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LinkedIn Enters The Gig Economy With An Upwork Competitor
Fast Company ^ | August 24, 2016 | Sarah Kessler

Posted on 08/27/2016 10:48:43 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

LinkedIn has created a freelance marketplace. Launched on Wednesday, "LinkedIn ProFinder" asks employers to submit contract jobs in categories such as design, writing, or financial services and promises to send them up to five free quotes from LinkedIn users in response.

Connecting freelancers to work has become a big business for other companies. Thumbtack, a company that uses a similar match-making strategy by asking workers to submit quotes for jobs from wedding planning to accounting to home repair, charges workers a fee each time they bid on a job. Last year, its investors valued the company at $1.3 billion. Upwork, which is better known for the professional services that LinkedIn seems to be targeting—categories on its homepage include design, writing, and legal work—handles more than $1 billion annually in freelance work. Freelancers pay between 5% and 20% of every paycheck to the site.

LinkedIn's version does not yet have a set business model. "We want to continue learning and iterating to ensure we get it right before instituting paywalls," a LinkedIn spokesperson told Fast Company. Currently professionals can submit up to 10 proposals for free. After the 10th job application, they'll need to subscribe to LinkedIn's Business Plus subscription, which costs $60 per month. Eventually, the spokesperson said, LinkedIn might host payments between employers and freelancers, which would mean it could take a commission on each transaction.

Premium subscriptions only account for about 20% of revenue for LinkedIn, which makes most of its money on recruitment tools. Though LinkedIn has also built a Facebook-style advertising business, that revenue stream hasn't been as strong for LinkedIn as it has for its friends-focused peer. (The company shut down its ad network earlier this year.) A freelance marketplace could be an additional source of income that depends not on building a daily web destination, but also upon LinkedIn's biggest strength as a jobs site.

Microsoft agreed to acquire LinkedIn for $26.2 billion last month.

Over the last five years, the number of freelancers on LinkedIn has increased by 50%, according to the company. Through a pilot program launched in October, more than 50,000 of them have access to ProFinder.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: economy; internet; linkedin

1 posted on 08/27/2016 10:48:43 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Smart move for LinkedIn.


2 posted on 08/27/2016 11:05:40 PM PDT by MNDude (God is not a Republican, but Satan is certainly a Democrat.)
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To: MNDude

I have a fake Linkedin account with a pirate alter-ego from an online game.

I check it once a month or so to see ho wants to link up with him


3 posted on 08/27/2016 11:08:22 PM PDT by Fai Mao
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Go here for cheap labor.
https://www.fiverr.com

Graphics & Design
Digital Marketing
Writing & Translation
Video & Animation
Music & Audio
Programming & Tech
Advertising
Business
Lifestyle
Gifts
Fun & Bizarre


4 posted on 08/27/2016 11:17:19 PM PDT by minnesota_bound
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
LinkedIn enters the Gig Economy... Finally!An economy named after Me!
5 posted on 08/28/2016 1:50:45 AM PDT by gigster (Cogito, Ergo, Ronaldus Magnus Conservatus)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Finally! An economy named after me!


6 posted on 08/28/2016 3:13:25 AM PDT by gigster (Cogito, Ergo, Ronaldus Magnus Conservatus)
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To: Fai Mao

I get dozens of irritating Linkin emails every month from a bot that wants to link with me.

This is another nasty Internet company that needs to go away and die imho.


7 posted on 08/28/2016 3:56:49 AM PDT by cgbg (Warning: This post has not been fact-checked by the Democratic National Committee.)
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To: minnesota_bound

I expect recruiters to follow.

They are looking for X years of experience with various types of technology and offer joke money a lot of times.


8 posted on 08/28/2016 4:51:28 AM PDT by wally_bert (I didn't get where I am today by selling ice cream tasting of bookends, pumice stone & West Germany)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

This might prove useful.


9 posted on 08/28/2016 4:55:12 AM PDT by Excellence (Marine mom since April 11, 2014)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Human Resources is now an industry that is also becoming a kind of secret society.


10 posted on 08/28/2016 6:10:11 AM PDT by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
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To: gigster

“Finally!An economy named after Me”

It’s about damn time too!


11 posted on 08/28/2016 7:03:43 AM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: wally_bert
They are looking for X years of experience with various types of technology and offer joke money a lot of times.

You can calculate the exact age of employee they really want to hire by adding the years of experience wanted to 22. If they ask for 3-5 years of experience in a given technology, they strongly prefer to hire a 25 to 27-year-old...and won't go past 30. :)

12 posted on 08/28/2016 7:08:00 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
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