WebProNews

Why would LinkIn be bothered, they collaborate with Plaxo, a first generation, opt-in address book. In this context, XING's move with ZoomInfo seems rather defensive, which shines through the hype of its press release, in which:

XING states: “The partnership will provide XING’s 2 million-plus members with immediate access to profiles on nearly 36 million business people and 3.8 million companies directly on the XING platform.”

REALITY: Any web user has access to ZoomInfo, in my browser its just a tab away, so for the user the added value is rather limited.

XING states: “Under the terms of the partnership, all XING members will have access to ZoomInfo profiles and XING premium members will have the ability to contact over 18 million professionals directly and securely.”

REALITY: Above it states twice as many: 36 million business people. The difference in “18 million business people” with no direct access probable derives from the fact that ZOOMINFO does not have accurate or complete enough information on the other half of its profiles. There are also many duplicates, despite having integrated my profile on ZOOMINFO last year I pop-up as 10 “business people”. The name “Lars Hinrichs” appears 12 times, at least two of them refer to the same “Lars Hinrichs” partnering with ZOOMINFO. Last but not least, as the profiles on ZoomInfo are search results and not member profiles, the whole issue of providing “access” is non regulated. In other words, the “access” is as good as access to anyone you “google”.

XING states: “According to Nielson/NetMetrics, ZoomInfo is the fastest growing network in the country”

REALITY: ZoomInfo is not a network as we understand XING, Ecademy, Viadeo, Soflow, Neurona, socialBusinessClub, Academici etc to be. It’s a specialist search service.

XING states: “XING members will also be able to manage their own online ‘brand reputation’ by monitoring their own web references to ensure accuracy and consistency.”

REALITY: Potential business partners or employers do not rely on ZoomInfo, LinkedIn or XING. What they want is information which is not “self monitored” and therefore are likely to “google” our names. Managing your own ‘brand reputation’ is an illusion running contrary to the principles of the other great buzz word: “Web2”.

XING states: “ZoomInfo’s 4.5 million unique monthly visitors will also be able to join XING’s business network directly with a simple two-click process.”

REALITY: We accept that people using the internet or Google are not necessarily interested in business networks. Well, that someone uses a people search does not mean they want to JOIN a network. If they want to their will find their way to: LinkedIn, XING, Ecademy, Viadeo, Karma, Soflow, Neurona, socialbusinessclub.com, Academici.net or one of the many other online business networks.

XING states: “With the successful IPO of XING as the first Web 2.0 company to go public, OPEN Business Club AG has had a long-term impact on the social networking trend amongst professionals.”

REALITY: I am nagging just because I am jealous…;-)

Klaas Brumann

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