Xing vs. LinkedIn: Comparing Features, Geographical and Demographical Distribution
Erol Unkan
University of Camerino School of Science and Technology
FHNW School of Business
ABSTRACT 1.2 LinkedIn This short paper shows an overview about the general LinkedIn is a US American business network founded in features and geographical distribution of Xing and LinkedIn 2003. It is listed on the NYSE with a revenue of $972 million and makes a comparison between the two platforms. (2012). About 4’800 employees are working in the company (2012). The company has acquired various companies KEYWORDS working in the social networking field [5]. Reid Hoffman, its founder also takes part in multiple Web 2.0 companies such Business Networks, Xing, LinkedIn, Features, Geographical as PayPal, Mozilla and Flicker [6]. Distribution LinkedIn focuses on providing services mainly in North 1. INTRODUCTION America and Asia. It has about 259 million members in total. In the DACH region LinkedIn has 4 million members [7]. Xing and LinkedIn are both business (or professional) However, there is no reliable source on how many paying networks. These are similar to social networks in every way members the network has. Considering the revenue of $972 but provide a platform to network, share events and have million in 2012 is made up entirely of subscriptions fees – discussions mainly on a professional basis instead of private which is mostly unlikely – divided by the minimum annual life connections. Business networks try to replicate onto an subscription fee of $95.40 and the maximum subscription online platform what is happening in the offline real world fee of $5999.40 [8] the amount of paying members ranges to simplify and quicken networking processes. from 10’189’000 (3.9%) to 162’000 (0.06%). Notable business networks are Viadeo (France), Xing These numbers are unreliable, but they show that even with (Germany) and LinkedIn (USA) [1]. The latter two will be the best possible solution, LinkedIn still has significantly less discussed in the following chapters. paying members than Xing. 1.1 Xing 2. COMPARISON OF FEATURES Xing is a German business network founded in 2003. It is listed on the German stock market DAX with a revenue of The comparison of the features consists of two different €73.3 million (2012). 519 employees are working in the tables. Table 1 and 2 compare assets of both platforms and company (2012) [2]. It is part of Burda Digital GmbH as of basic features that come in for free for every member. Table December 2012 [3]. 3 compares premium features that the user has to pay for. Xing focuses on providing services mainly in the DACH Different subscription fees exist for different features. region (German, Austria, Switzerland), where it also has Unless otherwise noted all information of table 1 and 2 is significantly the most members [2]. It has about 14 million taken from [9], and all information from table 3 is taken members in total 808’000 paying members [2] or 5.8% of from [10]. the total. In the DACH region Xing has 7 Million members The comparison shows that the features mostly differ in the [4]. free versions of the platforms. The premium functionality is very similar, and in most cases identical. The main difference is the different price settings of both networks. Xing LinkedIn This result was also shown in [11]. Continuation from previous column …
Company profiles only Free company profiles. 2.1 General Assets available with most Xing LinkedIn expensive subscription. Over 50’000 discussion Less, but growing Job advertisements Job advertisements groups [12]. discussion groups. supported. The prices are supported. The prices are generally more expensive, generally cheaper and the Outdated functionality Outdated functionality the service better with functionality simpler. compared to other social compared to other social more options available. networking sites networking sites (Facebook, Google+). (Facebook, Google+). Table 2 Basic Features Mobile compatibility, but Mobile compatibility, but limited functionality. limited functionality. 2.3 Premium Features Only second option for Is the main focus for Xing LinkedIn startups. startups [13]. €6.25 – €9.95 per month $7.95 – $499.95 per More detailed, but more More superficial, but month [8] difficult to quickly simpler and clearly See who watched the own See who watched the own understand the main arranged layout. profile. profile. functions. Write to 20 non-contacts 3 – 25 messages to non- Slowly growing Quickly growing per month. contacts per month (20.5% from 2011 – 2013, (97.7% from 2011 – 2013, 8.8% from 2012 – 2013) 38.5% from 2012 – 2013) Advanced searching Advanced searching (no [14]. [15]. (position, interests…) detailed description) enabled. enabled Table 1 General assets Company profiles enabled. Company profiles enabled
for free. 2.2 Basic Features No automatic searches. Automatic searches with Xing LinkedIn predefined search terms Event organizing is Event organizing is 10 times per day. possible and encouraged. possible. The operability is Table 3 Premium features The operability is generally more difficult.
generally simpler and more understandable. 3. COMPARISON OF GEOGRAPHICAL No business news. Business news on the DISTRIBUTION home page. The comparison of the geographical distribution consists of Media is not yet fully Media such as photos and three different measures. Table 4 shows the website supported. videos are supported. ranking in the most important countries (USA and the DACH Only the profile pictures Whole profile of visitors is region) and globally. of visitors are visible. visible to every member. The ranking is show in absolute numbers and percentage of Easier/better search Main focus on visitors from specific countries. The ranking of Austria and functions for headhunters entrepreneurs instead of Switzerland are n/a (not applicable), the reason being that and recruiters. recruiters. it is smaller than the 10th place of the total ranking, which is Messaging supported with More functionality in the Netherlands with 1.8% percent of the total visitors. limited functionality. messaging (archiving, The numbers show how different the geographical flagging, trash). distribution is among both networks. More than 80% of Continuation in next column … Xing’s visitors are from the DACH region with US Americans being in the vast minority of 2.6%. LinkedIn’s statistics show 1 the contrary distribution. More than of all visitors of 3 LinkedIn are US American, while only about 1.9% – 5.7% are Traffic Comparison from the DACH region (퐷 = 1.9% + 퐴 = 0% + 퐶퐻 = Xing LinkedIn 0%; 퐷 = 1.9% + 퐴 = 1.9% + 퐶퐻 = 1.9%). The data is taken from [16] and shows the numbers from 20 January Bounce 38.4% 30.1% 2014. Page views 5.68 8.27 per Visitor Website Ranking Globally and USA/DACH Daily Time 6:31 7:28 Xing Xing LinkedIn LinkedIn Traffic sources Work over- H: 66% W: 34% total relative total relative (Home vs. Work) represented [18] Global 331 100% 12 100% Table 5 Traffic comparison USA 4384 2.6% 8 34.5% Germany 18 71.2% 24 1.9% 5. COMPARISON OF DEMOGRAPHICS Austria 31 6.3% n/a n/a 5.1 General Demographics Switzerland 32 4.6% n/a n/a Table 6 shows the demographics consisting of relative Table 4 Website ranking comparisons of the gender and the educational level measured in members holding a university degree (undergraduate, postgraduate, Bachelors, Masters). The 4. COMPARISON OF TRAFFIC relative number in the education row should be treated carefully, since not all members include the information on The traffic comparison of both platforms consists of the their profile. LinkedIn’s data was calculated by [18], bounce rate (percentage of visits that end on the first page whereas Xing data was obtained on [19]. of the website [17]), the page view per visitor, daily time spent on the website and the percentage of how many people visit the website from home versus from a company. Xing LinkedIn The numeral traffic source of Xing is not available but is Gender M: 48% F: 52% M: 61% F: 39% presented as over-represented and thus more than 50%. Education 48% 78% The bounce rate is significantly higher with Xing. Reasons might be that there is more communication happening on Table 6 General demographics LinkedIn, so the user clicks on a new message or general new notification icon. Another possibility is the abundance 5.2 Age Demographics of business news on Xing, leading user to leaving the Table 7 shows the age distribution on both networks. It can website if there are no new notification rather than clicking clearly be seen how different the age distribution is among on a news headline presented in LinkedIn. the platforms. Xing shows a concentrated and consistent Page views are also higher with LinkedIn. A reason might be peak among the age group of 25 – 54. Combined with the the higher superficiality of LinkedIn compared to Xing as data from table 8 it can be assumed that most of the shown in the features comparison. The more information is members are entrepreneurs owning small to medium sized presented on a single website, the less other pages have to companies that represent themselves on Xing. Young be visited. people such as high schoolers and students don’t seem to The significantly higher traffic source from working places be attracted to the platform. with Xing provides another explanation for the different LinkedIn shows a different demographic situation. The statistics. It is likely that users at a workplace have less time distribution is less concentrated and while the main group available to check a website thoroughly resulting in only still consists of 35 – 44 year old members, the young and quick glances at a website and thus higher bounce rates, very population as well as the older demography are higher. less page views and lower time spent on Xing compared to This is also congruent with the employee count presented LinkedIn. in table 8. The larger the company the higher the possibility is to show variety in the age demographics, starting with the intern up to the senior board member. The most interesting
numbers are highlighted to differentiate them from the rest. The data from table 7 and 8 was obtained from [20] and shows figures of May 2012. Age Demographics 6. SUMMARY Xing LinkedIn Though it is difficult to compare platforms that work in 0 – 17 4% 6% different geographical regions, it is still possible to draw 18 – 24 4% 6% conclusions about similarities and differences. 25 – 34 28% 21% The main interesting fact is that both companies still go 35 – 44 34% 35% strong within their regions. The specialization works for both platforms as the numbers of the website ranking 45 – 54 13% 12% show. Another revelation is that both networks provide 55 – 64 13% 16% similar functionalities – at least in the paid version – but with a very different layout and style. Whereas Xing targets >65 4% 4% business owners, managers or employees in the DACH Table 7 Age demographics region and provides great search functions for recruiters, LinkedIn seems a bit more of a social networking and communication site with media integration, news and more 5.3 Employee Counts in Companies free functions.
Company sizes go hand-in-hand with age and gender demographics. The smaller the company, the less diversity 7. FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS will show. Table 7 shows that Xing is preferred by people working in small to medium sized companies that make up Based on the functionality and geographical, as well as 46% of the whole membership. There are two spikes in the demographic distribution it might be a possibility for Xing to range of 1’001 – >10’000 sized companies. Reasons might gradually move to become an individual job searching and be that companies in the DACH region generally tend to be job advertising platform. The recent acquisition of kununu, SME, while there still is a large number of large enterprises the market leader for employer ratings in the DACH region, [21], [22]. only further proves this point [9]. LinkedIn is strongly concentrated in the >5’001 sized LinkedIn is on a great path to further strengthen its companies that make up 51% with a spike in the 51 – 200 position as the leading international business network. sized. Since most of the members of LinkedIn are from the However, both platforms need to update their USA it is safe to assume this results from the fact that large functionality and design to the next generation rather corporations are an important factor in the US economy. sooner than later. The spike in the 51 – 200 range might result from the trend that startups prefer LinkedIn over Xing.
Company Sizes Xing LinkedIn Single 5% 3% 1-10 16% 6% 11-50 15% 8% 51-200 15% 11% 201-500 9% 8% 501-1’000 7% 6% 1’001-5’000 13% 6% 5’001-10’000 4% 17% >10’000 16% 34% Table 8 Company sizes
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