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Why LinkedIn Under Microsoft Is Doomed

There are two things Microsoft can do with LinkedIn. One is leave it alone. The other comes more naturally.

January 4, 2017
Microsoft LinkedIn Acquisition

Microsoft's $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn seems like a stab in the dark; an effort to get Microsoft Dynamics 360 CRM off the ground by adding a social network. But really, it just kept Salesforce from buying LinkedIn.

Opinions For some reason I am a LinkedIn Premium user, despite the fact that I was skeptical of the whole idea when the product launched and I don't currently get much out of it. I've never gotten a job or contract from LinkedIn, received a good lead or contact for a story or a column, or booked a public speaking engagement. One economic blip, and I'll cancel the extra expense.

The so-called improvements the company keeps making, insofar as the interface is concerned, has never been an improvement at all. Earlier versions of the service made it quite easy to browse through your own network alphabetically in a casual manner, but now everything is awkwardly search-based.

There are two things Microsoft will most likely do to LinkedIn. The first would be to leave it alone, which—from what I can tell—will worsen the product. But Redmond could also come in and ruin the product with a few years of meddling, just as it did with everything from Nokia to WebTV.

So the likelihood of anything good coming from the LinkedIn buyout is improbable, at best. This, despite the fact that Satya Nadella is at the helm. The problem is the corporate culture, not the bosses.

If you do any research as to why Microsoft bought this company or what it expects to do with it, you'll find a laundry list of ideas which will be reflected by Microsoft itself. In other words, nobody knows. The real reason still seems to me to be a useless, and expensive, potshot at Salesforce.

So what should users do? If LinkedIn is subject to the usual decay, it takes from one to three years. In the meantime, you should build the biggest network you can and download it into a spreadsheet that you can use internally. You will lose all the personal information and phone numbers, which you are not allowed to download. But hopefully someone will come up with a workaround to obtain this data before the whole operation is shuttered.

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About John C. Dvorak

Columnist, PCMag.com

John C. Dvorak is a columnist for PCMag.com and the co-host of the twice weekly podcast, the No Agenda Show. His work is licensed around the world. Previously a columnist for Forbes, PC/Computing, Computer Shopper, MacUser, Barrons, the DEC Professional as well as other newspapers and magazines. Former editor and consulting editor for InfoWorld, he also appeared in the New York Times, LA Times, Philadelphia Enquirer, SF Examiner, and the Vancouver Sun. He was on the start-up team for C/Net as well as ZDTV. At ZDTV (and TechTV) he hosted Silicon Spin for four years doing 1000 live and live-to-tape TV shows. His Internet show Cranky Geeks was considered a classic. John was on public radio for 8 years and has written over 5000 articles and columns as well as authoring or co-authoring 14 books. He's the 2004 Award winner of the American Business Editors Association's national gold award for best online column of 2003. That was followed up by an unprecedented second national gold award from the ABEA in 2005, again for the best online column (for 2004). He also won the Silver National Award for best magazine column in 2006 as well as other awards. Follow him on Twitter @therealdvorak.

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