Big international news today for LinkedIn, the social media site for professionals to network with each other: the company is launching its first official site in China — in Simplified Chinese, in beta.
For a company of 277 milion users that has been criticised of late for slowing growth, the move is significant: China represents an opportunity of some 140 million professionals, or one in five of all knowledge workers globally, according to LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner. And given how strong the GDP is growing in China — currently the world’s second-fastest — the number of potential users is sure to go up.
“Given the rapid acceleration and development of China’s economy, the expansion of our offering in China marks a significant step forward in our mission to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful,” Weiner writes in a blog post.
LinkedIn is not starting from zero: the company already has some four million registered users in the country, although they all currently only use the English language site.
While a move into China will help the company tap into a rapidly expanding base of new users, it will not be without its challenges. Weiner notes that the decision to move into China is one that the company has been weighing up for a while, balancing the opportunity against the fact that companies that operate in the country are subject to censorship and much more government control than they are in the U.S. For a company that effectively relies on user-generated content, conversations, and a general level of trust and engagement, this is a huge deal.
Weiner says that its workaround is to put into place a list of requirements for how it intends to proceed:
o Government restrictions on content will be implemented only when and to the extent required.
o LinkedIn will be transparent about how it conducts business in China and will use multiple avenues to notify members about our practices.
o The company will undertake extensive measures to protect the rights and data of our members.
Within this framework, I believe that the benefits of LinkedIn’s evolution in China will prove compelling to our members, who are based in China, as well as members around the world.
On an ongoing basis, LinkedIn will continue to engage a variety of experts and policy makers as we work to safeguard the interests of our members. Along with our partners, Sequoia China and CBC, and our President of China, Derek Shen, we will continue to navigate the practical challenges of expanding our presence in China.
More to come.
from TechCrunch http://ift.tt/1fjWAff
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