Trumblog

Last December I wrote about 3 BlackBerry social network applications that were expected by the end of 2009. They were Foursquare, Twitter and LinkedIn. This week the well done and extremely useful Foursquare BlackBerry app was released as a public beta and also a screen shot was released of the native Twitter app that has been rumored. Twitter was the long shot of the bunch and I was pretty surprised to see it considering its mere existance was a rumor and the number of quality Twitter apps available for the BlackBerry like my fav ÜberTwitter.

Then there is LinkedIn, the social network for professionals. First they blew their end of year deadline and then they insulted the BlackBerry community by releasing a new iPhone app with expanded features.

It is so puzzling to me that the business social network does not have an app for the business smart phone. It seems like a no brainer. Sure the iPhone is cool and an app for it will give you more buzz, but doesn’t LinkedIn want to fish where the fish are? Perhaps BlackBerry users on LinkedIn are taken for granted. Of course they are on LinkedIn. Maybe it’s the young iPhone users that LinkedIn is courting? But if so then LinkedIn needs to be careful about neglecting their base. Facebook and Twitter are fun and have BlackBerry apps.  The line between business and personal in social networking have blurred and mobile is the future of all social networks.  LinkedIn neglects this situation at their peril.

LinkedIn was where I first dipped my toes into social networks. It was a social networking kiddie pool for a gen X guy. My experience there led me to get involved with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Yelp, Del.icio.us, blogging, Foursquare, etc. Through my activity with these networks I began to see LinkedIn less like a community (I was friends with most of my LinkedIn connections on Facebook, Twitter, etc. anyway) and more like a resume.  It was required, but only brushed up every year or so unless you were actively looking for work. That was until this fall when I began to hear a lot more LinkedIn love from colleagues and at conferences. So I dove in again and engaged with the LinkedIn community for awhile. But the self advertising on LinkedIn (by non-connections) and the lack of interaction from my real connections compared to the mobile fun in other social networks kept me updating Facebook, Twitter and the rest while giving LinkedIn my leftover scraps of attention.

LinkedIn, you were my first and your utility is clear. But unless you want to continue being seen as a utility by many of us (and I use utility here in the water, electricity and gas company sense that they are vital, but we only think about them when they are gone) rather than a community you need to get on the stick and give us the mobile access that we require. I wish you the best and hope to see you on my BlackBerry soon.

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