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LinkedIn opens operations in India
By siliconindia
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Monday, 16 November 2009, 14:34 IST |
3 Comments
New Delhi: Online professional networking site, LinkedIn has set up operations in India, and has hired Hari V Krishnan, Country Head of social networking site MySpace, to spearhead its India operations. LinkedIn, which counts India as its fastest growing market with a 3.4 million subscriber base, is adding 70,000 new users every week in the country. Globally, it has 52 million subscribers.
Krishnan, currently undergoing induction at the company's U.S. head office in California, will focus on LinkedIn's business model comprising user subscriptions, ad sales and enterprise software licensing for the Indian market, reports Economic Times. "India is one of our fastest growing markets. We help employees manage their brands and we see user interest growing significantly," said Jeff Weiner, CEO, LinkedIn. "Hari's addition to the LinkedIn team will not only help us better serve our membership and customers on a local basis, but will also help accelerate our goal to connect the world's professionals."
Krishnan, has worked at leadership positions in MySpace India, Travelguru, Yahoo India and Cisco Systems. Till his appointment, LinkedIn had no direct presence in India, though advertising was handled by NetworkPlay.in.
The LinkedIn user base in India runs more than two million searches per week and has created more than 30,000 groups to date. Currently, the company has over 60 advertisers in India that include brands such as GM, Microsoft and Tanishq. Among its member community, almost half-a-million are from technology and services companies, 350,000 are computer software professionals and just over a lakh are from telecom companies.
Employees at TCS, Infosys and Wipro account for a large individual member base. For instance, 38,771 TCS employees are LinkedIn members, while around 30,000 Infosys employees and 28,634 Wipro workers are members of LinkedIn. Among varsities, University of Mumbai has most members (61,996) followed by Delhi University (51,500) and Bangalore University (39,295).
Companies are increasingly using social networking media to scout for talent, generate business leads, advertise and understand user trends. HR experts reckon that almost 15-20 percent of the lateral hires could come from social networks in the next couple of years. On the other hand, individual subscribers use social networking media, such as LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace, to update professional profiles, network informally and socialize online.
