Most of you are asleep right now (5:00am) but I am writing a blog :). Luckily my inspiration (only) works at night!
As you have read the title the topic is: “online social networks”, I went with Facebook and LinkedIn and for the comparison I applied the five forces model. For those who do not know what this is: perhaps you can Google it 🙂 !
Other than the bargaining power of suppliers and rivalry among firms is considered medium-high for Facebook, due to Google + being an alternative and current competitor, all the other forces were quite low. Although, I found that the power of suppliers was then relatively low for LinkedIn, as users don’t really have better alternatives. Also, switching costs are high, as users cannot transfer data/connections. Nevertheless, I think that Facebook and LinkedIn are both profitable and are likely to remain so in the near future.
In conclusion, I feel like Facebook has already reached its maturity stage (if not decline) – weakness, whereas LinkedIn has still many options to expand and increase its user base – strength. Hence, I believe LinkedIn has more opportunities and fewer threats than Facebook at the moment. Questions/comments are welcome!
