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Finding a niche between the feet of China's online giants is no easy task, but US professional networking platform LinkedIn is quietly establishing a serious following in a market dominated by domestic players.
Allen Blue, co-founder of LinkedIn, was in Hainan for the Boao Forum for Asia in mid-April, an opportunity he saw as a chance to learn more about China's economic plans and the role his company can play in the country's development.
39 million
The professional networking site says it has around 39 million users in China, dwarfed by the one billion WeChat-ers (as revealed by Tencent CEO Pony Ma in March) but nevertheless a considerable number for a site that only launched a Chinese-language version in 2014 and a tailor-made China app in 2015.
The original LinkedIn platform went live in 2003, and Blue said even then it had a "sizeable presence among people who worked for global corporations inside China."
LinkedIn co-founder Allen Blue speaks to CGTN Digital at the Boao Forum for Asia 2018 in Hainan, China.
The launch of the Chinese-specific app catapulted LinkedIn, which was purchased by Microsoft in a deal valued at 26 billion US dollars in December 2016, forward from around four million users to nearly 40 million in fewer than three years.
A unique version for China
Blue says the company, which has around half a billion users worldwide, has been mindful of Chinese people's online expectations in its development of a China-specific platform.
"The market here in China is so different, and the competitive landscape and the tool landscape – just the tools that professionals use on a regular basis – are just very different here than elsewhere," says Blue, who became part of what became LinkedIn after a friend introduced him to fellow co-founder Reid Hoffman at the turn of the millennium.
Blue studied theater and English at Stanford and worked for seven years in theatrical design before teaming up with Hoffman at SocialNet.com, a dating site. "It was a LinkedIn story in the end, it was very network-driven, it was very much a friend-of-a-friend."
The current day LinkedIn story means a user in Houston or Mumbai has a subtly different experience from another in Shanghai. "We have a LinkedIn product here which is a unique version for China," Blue says.
People nearby?
Blue singles out the "People You May Know" feature on the global platform and the addition of "People Nearby" on the Chinese app as an example of a country-specific difference.
"In China, we still have that capability ('People You May Know') but we also have the ability to find people nearby, which is an expectation which has been built over the years through WeChat and so forth. That's an example of a small but important difference which is part of trying to embrace the tools and user expectations about the way LinkedIn should operate."
LinkedIn has sought to offer Chinese users features already familiar to them through platforms such as WeChat.
Similar features are common in Western dating apps, but Blue is "skeptical" as to whether it can be a hit outside China for LinkedIn.
"The experience of finding people who are nearby is just unfamiliar in most parts of the world. So there's no expectation that you would actually be able to do it. We will experiment, and see if it actually makes sense and people want to pick it up."
Complementing others
Payment, messaging and services apps are integral parts of modern Chinese urban life, led by super-platforms like WeChat and Alipay. For other companies, let alone one from overseas, finding a gap in the market is a challenge.
Blue recalls the early days of LinkedIn to illustrate the company's position in relation to the big Chinese online platforms. "When we founded LinkedIn, we worked very hard to complement email, which back in 2003 was the primary mechanism for communication.
"We had to use it. And we didn't just use it as a transmission mechanism, we also tried to augment it, we tried to build structures, plug-ins. Bringing LinkedIn value into email was a big deal for us."
LinkedIn was purchased by Microsoft in a deal valued at 26 billion US dollars in December 2016.
LinkedIn is now positioning itself in a similar way in a very different environment. It is offering something different to the dominant players, but also agreed a three-year cooperation deal with WeChat in 2014 which allowed binding of the products. The deal has now expired, but the companies are discussing new ways of working together.
Blue says that in China there are no "plans right now for specific partnerships – nothing we can talk about anyway."
Copy, borrow, inspire
Similarities between big companies in the same industry are inevitable - whether they be retail businesses, restaurant chains or online platforms. They operate in the same sphere and learn from each other's successes and mistakes.
Blue says he's unaware of specific examples of Chinese platforms "that have copied, borrowed or been inspired by" LinkedIn, but reacts strongly to a raised eyebrow at the use of "inspired."
"I take the inspired stuff seriously. Facebook has been inspired by LinkedIn, and LinkedIn has been inspired by Facebook, and Twitter, and all the players that exist elsewhere. The same thing is happening here, just the market realities play differently here than in the rest of the world or America."
Creating opportunity in China
Blue sees a wider role for LinkedIn in China's economic development, and believes his participation at the Boao Forum was an opportunity to "figure out how we can be helpful."
"At LinkedIn, our vision is that we'll create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. Many of those people are here in China; we want to create economic opportunity and we think of the government as a partner in doing that."
LinkedIn co-founder Allen Blue at the Boao Forum for Asia 2018 in Hainan, China.
The company aims to position itself as a tool to attract talent to China as well as boosting connectivity within it. "We started in the world of multinational corporations, but now we've begun expanding more broadly and becoming a valuable tool for recruiters, for business people to do sales and marketing.
"Not just within China – Chinese company approaching Chinese company – but also reaching outside China, to attract talent, to attract attention, to build business with foreign companies."
Data, privacy and trust
Globally, LinkedIn is the professional networking platform of choice for around half a billion users – who hand over a lot of personal information.
Data privacy is headline news at the moment following the revelations that the data of 87 million Facebook users may have been shared with Cambridge Analytica.
Blue says "the question of data privacy is a discussion that isn't complete."
"There was a time when people were opining that we were well on our way to living in a much less private society. And I think there's a whole lot of conversation to be had about that."
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to testify before a US congressional committee on the protection of user data, April 11, 2018.
Facebook has been dragged over the coals – and in front of the US Congress – but Blue draws clear distinctions between LinkedIn and other networking sites, in part because of the unique variety of services it offers.
"At LinkedIn, we take it extremely seriously. The trust we have with our users really is the foundation of our ability to get things done. People come to LinkedIn and provide information to us in order to present themselves in the professional world.
"So openness about your data, revealing yourself, is part and parcel of what people understand the service (to be). So it's a little bit of a different structure than Facebook or others."
The interview ends, we bid farewell – and realize photos have been forgotten. After 30 minutes of personable chat and despite a hectic schedule, Blue gamely poses and laughs on cue – the epitome of a practiced networker.
(CGTN)
