Facebook fan page
Twitter streamWhat the Xing?!
Last weekend I asked for feedback from Xing. Xing is similar to Linkedin as they are marketing online business professionals. The problem is that I don’t understand the difference between and XING and Linkedin and guess what? XING doesn’t want to explain it. I asked one simple question that I am posing here for either comment or contact me directly.
Whats the difference between XING and Linkedin?
That wasn’t a question designed to get XING to speak unprofessionally about Linkedin. I wanted to know why the heck I or anyone else should join ANOTHER social network when they have a similar vibe to Linkedin.
If I was searching for full time employment I understand. But WHY should I or you signup if that is not the case? Below was their answer:
“Thank you for your email. As all companies are different in there own ways I am unable to go into details or give specific details to your request. We offer some things that LinkedIn does not have and LinkedIn may offer things we do not. This is the difference between all companies.”
“If you would like to know more about our company please click on the links below.”
http://corporate.xing.com/?L=1
http://corporate.xing.com/no_cache/english/press/welcome/
HUH?! So it’s OK for your members to invite (interrupt?) their friends and social network connections to join you but it is not OK to explain WHY we should add yet another social network to our lives? Or at the very least clarify how you differentiate from your competitor?
The only thing I see is that they are based in Germany and globally marketing themselves. OK…………..
WHY Entrepreneur Should Pay Attention to This
- You must differentiate from your competitors. That doesn’t mean discrediting them. But you should use a comparison chart. Search engine Bing is having this challenge. They can’t successfully differentiate from Google. Plus since as Seth Godin says “Google isn’t broke” it becomes more difficult to clarify your uniqueness. Same issue with other micro blogs competing with Twitter. If we have Twitter why do we need you? Honestly I think Micro blogs have a heaver fight against Twitter than Bing against Google. Who doesn’t want all the Search Engine traffic they can use for FREE without doing much? But another micro blog to manage? Hmmm I think not. Not for now anyways.
- Too Many Social Medias and not enough Social Masters: I have a saying and it holds true it is not about doing 5000 things it’s about doing 5 things 1000 times. Don’t join a social network just to join. I turn down at least 30 – 50+ offers a week to join social networks. Why? I have enough networks as it is and only a insanly misguided person joins 30+ networks. Jack of all, master of none? Sound familiar? Now I am not saying to not join a lot of groups. But you don’t need to join all.
Linkedin has a XING group which I posted the same “Whats the difference between XING and Linkedin? ” question on their forum and will let you know what they say.
Entrepreneurs take my advice and FOCUS . Just because there is a network of millions doesn’t mean you should be there.
XING take my advice and game up and clearly explain yourself. Don’t think that since you have millions on your network that you don’t have to explain yourself. Let MySpace, AOL, Yahoo, and others be clear examples to you that millions now could mean marooned later.
**UPDATE** XING Responds on comments
Official Repsonse from XING (taken from comments section)
Hello Darren,
As requested, we gladly provide our perspective towards your question that was answered by our colleague from customer care department. Needless to say, XING as a company and a business platform has USPs and we do not need to fear to be compared to competitors. However, we ourselves would prefer to point out our strengths and unique features.
We are, to name some of our distinctive strengths, the only SSL-encrypted social network in the world, including our recently launched OpenSocial based XING Partner Ecosystem that started with 16 applications from 13 partners, thus more than any other business networking platform. You also find information on our blog in five languages – for instance, have a look at Features & More in our English blog. ( http://blog.xing.com/category/features-and-more )
Besides technical innovations found in the blog, what makes a social network valuable is its community. For instance, with our events tool, we also offer members the possibility to network offline, with more than 90,000 events per year. Also, XING empowers networking with XING Regional Ambassadors and the newly-launched XING Xpert Ambassador Program.
And of course you can try that out for yourself and join the network for free. Like many web services and social networks, we also offer premium features to give more value to users – and more than 600 thousand members are convinced by these XING features and pay the monthly fee, making us the no 1. network worldwide when it comes to payers.
Should you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to contact me via e-mail (that’s Christian.Burtchen@xing.com).
Kind regards,
Christian Burtchen
XING AG, Corporate Communication
My response
OK First Christian thank you for responding. I really don’t think you actually answered the original question and it has nothing to do with having fear of being compared to your competitors. It has to do with differentiation through comparison i.e. charts.
I think you should let the people who use your service answer this in the future. Below are the pros and cons from people in the XING Group on Linkedin. You should use this type of feedback when asked that question.
XING Group on Linked in responses (thanks guys really appreciate the response)
Stephan Koß Senior Consultant at ITP Unternehmensberatung
LinkedIN has more than seven times more members
LinkedIN has a better search function (Geo Targeting and similar)
LinkedIN has more High Potentials
LinkedIN has better functions for basis member
LinkedIN has recommendations (I Think, it would be the next part, xing is copiing)
LinkedIN integrated popular Applications (Amazon, Google)
LinkedIN Q & A Area is integrated, so you can profile as an expert
But Xing is not bad,
Xing has a better group solution (HTML in group descriptions)
Xing`s GUI is nicer
Xing has a sympathetic Support”
Database Administrator at RWTH Aachen
“XING is a German based company that developed their product along with their german users. the main difference to me is the way of a persons representation and reputation.
xing on the one hand works with the data entered in ones profile, along with the things you offer and/or you are looking for. this is one of the way to find people, looking for interests. The second point – and this is so far the biggest difference to LinkedIn – is the way you behave in the groups offered by other users. Show your affiliations, take part in discussions, contact other members. The group functionality is whar I would call the xing killer feature.
LinkedIn on the other hand is more the “real” networking. You can only contact other people using your (trusted) network (or you pay for it). You gain your reputation from recommendation or show your expertise answering questions in topics well known to you.
When it comes to money, LinkedIn might seem more expensive. But as I pointed out before you can enlarge your own network by using your contacts – this makes a trusted networking at no cost. Using xing, you must pay about 5€ a month to be able to write messages to any person on the plattform – even your own contacts (but there is a trick to avoid that) – or contact a person straightaway, but this cold contacting might not be everybodys favourite networking model.
I would be glad to answer more in-depth questions on how things are dealt with on the xing platform. ”
Commercial Application Leader Europe and India at Momentive Performance Materials
“Linkedin groups suck, as there is no discussion at all in most (at least the ones I know).
Also, IMO XING is a little more subtle as far as data privacy is concerned. Offers like screening your outlook or yahoo email (which i concern a potential data privacy nightmare) are not thrust on you as aggressively as with Linkedin”
David Hesse
Technical Support Professional
“I think that both are more or less the same and have their importance in certain areas of the world.. Xing is better known in continental Europe while LinkedIn is more internatonal. It all depends where you want to present yourself. If you dont care about Europe then you are certainly better off with LinkedIn. If you want your profile to be found in Mainland Europe then you better focus on Xing”
Erich Niklas
Business Manager Power EMEA at Cree
“David Hesse is right. Central Europe uses XING; if you’d like to go global then LinkedIn is the right platform. I use both”
