From LinkedIn to beBee, the professional social networks

LinkedIn

Is is over 20 years since the launch of Linkedin, and therefore the creation of the first Social Network, 100% oriented to the professional field of users.  Such was the magnitude of its success that in just three years it became the first American social network to go public, and only two years after that it had more than two hundred million users worldwide, becoming a practically essential networking tool in the world of work.

Viadeo

There are many who tried to imitate the giant Linkedin, but so far the Viadeo platform had been the one that had managed to come closest to the success of the pioneer professional network, reaching thirty million users in several countries in 2010. Although these were gradually dwindling, and today its presence is over. They failed after entering in China. 

Xing

Another of the platforms that at the time managed to position itself as one of the biggest competitors of Linkedin, was the German Xing (Bct at the time of its creation), despite its rapid growth, especially at European level, has recently closed its offices around the world, remaining only with the headquarters in Germany. Today, Xing is still active with more than 11 million users, although the German market is practically its only field of activity.

beBee

Despite the fact that no one has managed to match Linkedin, there are still some brave people who are still trying, the latest being three Spanish entrepreneurs who relaunched beBee. To avoid falling into the mistakes of their predecessors, the founders of beBee have not launched the platform as a competitor to LinkedIn, but as a different or complementary tool to the U.S. giant.

BeBee defines itself as an "affinity network", where the connection between users goes beyond purely professional matters, also including the possibility of connection by interests and hobbies. In addition, as it is a network that combines the personal with the professional, the user can avoid receiving information and notifications on issues that are beyond his or her interests.

Another of the main issues that differentiate it from Linkedin is that while Linkedin is mainly oriented towards high and mid-level profiles, beBee covers a much wider range of professional profiles, from executive positions to plumbers or bricklayers, so that the volume of job ads is wider.

Bebee is one of the european startups with more international projection, although nobody really knows if in the future it will be able to consolidate this success, the reality is that since its relaunch, its projection seems unstoppable.