Social media and the intangible dollars

I frequent two sites for social and professional networking- Facebook and LinkedIn, and have tremendously admired both of them for the ideas that they are. While Facebook has helped me get in touch with many schoolmates and childhood friends, LinkedIn on the other hand  has helped me project myself fairly well in the professional space and a large part of it helped me change jobs last year when prospective employers assessing me with an insight into the work that i had done in these years.

In a sizzling debut last month on the New York Stock Exchange, investors sent stock in LinkedIn, the social-networking site for business professionals, soaring 109 percent on its first day of trading. While the enthusiasm subsided a tad the next day, LinkedIn’s shares still closed the week at around $93, more than twice the company’s initial offering price. This put the value of the company, which made $15 million in profit last year, at more than $8 billion. whew!!

One thing that comes to mind rather frighteningly is, whether this stunning performance echoed the late 1990s, when the bubble around dot-com companies began to inflate. On its first day of trading in 1995, Netscape stock doubled in price. Yahoo shares rose 154 percent on its 1996 offering. TheGlobe.com shot up to $97 from $9 in its first day of trading in 1998, giving it a valuation of about $850 million. I read up a bit on this first-day mania and almost shockingly discovered that LinkedIn’s first-day trading gain was the fifth highest since 2001, but the top three were Chinese Internet stocks like Baidu, which zoomed 354 percent on its debut in 2005, with Nymex No. 4. And, even more surprising has been the optimism shown by the analysts.

 While the business models have certainly matured and improved over the past decade, I am, like many others, hesitant to believe that the markets are on the cusp of another tech bubble or that the markets are returning to the days when unprofitable new companies could be valued at billions of dollars. In the whole aura of ecommerce and dotcoms, the tangibles again suddenly seem to be “eyeballs,” the site visitors and site stickiness. I must also confess here that being a student of brand building and marketing management. I have even now not convinced that premium be paid based on TRP ratings. I don't think one remembers every commercial during a sitcom - I just flip TV channels when there is a commercial. So much about tangibles.

In the case of LinkedIn, It is not a company you have to value on page views or visitors. This is a company that grew revenues by more than double and also turned profitable. The hottest segment of the internet market space is certainly social media companies and can sustain ventures like Groupon (remember, they raised a billion dollars and are now valued multiple times of that billion)

And the barometer for the segment, Facebook, which is widely expected to go public next year. Some experts peg the value of Facebook at 80 Billion...Whoa, My company, the Big Blue just about managed a billion dollars for every year that its been around and with atleast a couple of business school worthy case studies around redefining strategies. It is also believed that LinkedIn benefited from all of the attention Facebook has managed to garner. I shrug to imagine whether the new blue is gonna be bigger than the big blue. Personally, I hope not

Of course, the big question to which I certainly don't have an answer is whether LinkedIn is destined to become the next Google or Amazon, or whether it will go the TheGlobe.com way, which became a penny stock when the dot-com bubble burst..

LinkedIn, which has millions of subscribers with a largest country contribution being from India does have a revenue model. It offers what is called a freemium business model: users can create free profiles or they can pay a subscription fee for a premium account with special features. Good, but hard to consider it a billions raking model. I can, but, surely tell you that having an updated profile on linkedin helps. Fortune recently carried a cover story on how linkedin can fire up your career and why you should have a profile on Linkedin if you are serious about managing your career. Exchanging business cards is almost passé with "join my professional network " becoming more obligatory.

Ravi Shastri, A gentle genius

This is a re-post of the original write-up I wrote on www.mouthshut.com on December 28, 2005, but wanted it on my blog as a tribute to a cricketer I admired during my school days. There have been far better students of this game, but there is something special about Ravi and the way he shaped his game and career always acknowledging his limitations.

A Gentle Genius at that one! How many cricketers can one think of who came into the Indian cricket team as a 5th bowler, a batsman at the fall of the 9th wicket going on to open the innings as a batsman, share the ball with the much acclaimed bowlers and also captain the country with such aplomb in all these disciplines .The only name that comes to my mind is Ravi Shastri. 

Ravi Shastri, whose inclusion and retention in the team for many years was often debated by many, was one of the best thinking cricketers that India has produced. After all one does not find true all-rounders anymore these days thanks to the hectic international cricket seasons and more test playing nations. Ravi Shastri managed a fine balance between sensible bowling, reasonably good batting and was often called as a ‘Sheath Anchor’ by the commentators and pundits of the game. How can anyone forget his ‘Armer’ ball which felled many a Martin Crowe, David Boon, Mike Gatting, Salim malik et al. His escapades with the bat are again praise worthy, six sixers in an over off Tilak Raj albeit in a First class match, his mastery of the famed leg glance often called the ‘Chapathi Shot’. He was the only one who could play the leg glance on a high rise ball on the off-stump!!! Bowlers like Bruce Reid, Craig Mc Dermott, Rumesh Ratnayake, Even Chatfield, Wasim Akram etc who have bowled to him would testify as to what an unorthodox player he was. Ravi Shastri as an individual accepted his weakness and tailored his game accordingly. The third man fence or the Long On fence would be his destined fielding position more because of his long strides. Right from his days at the Nirlon Sports Club in Bombay, The Ranji & Duleep Trophy matches and Test cricket, he has always taken pride in representing his home club, state, gymkhana or the nation. His integrity and passion towards the game is unquestionable. Who can forget that fist clenching and pumping whenever he got a wicket or scored a six during the slog overs. His passion for the game and the way he matured as a cricketer of repute is something admirable. His double hundred at the SCG is something no Shastri fan would ever forget. Ravi Shastri did go a long way to be a permanent member of the team, his technical mastery of the game helped him captain the side for a very short time. I always felt that he definitely deserved a longer stint as a captain, but then those days had better captains. This era also saw the Shastri-Srikkanth opening pair as one of the most dependable opening pairs, the other been Boon-Marsh. Talking of his cricketing brain and captaincy, even Sachin Tendulkar once said that Ravi Shastri was his favorite Indian captain-some tribute to this great brain. His cricketing ability combined with attention to details, mastery of language and some good contacts built during his playing days brought him closer to Mark Mascarenhas,the chief of WorldTel. In fact it was Ravi Shastri who introduced Sachin Tendulkar to Mark and WorldTel thus helping the maestro to manage his career and contractual obligations. His success as a player representative and ace commentator are definitely some of his exploits off the field. Sometime back there was also some talk of his ability as a coach. I am not sure as to how much justice he could do to that job, but BCCI should look more to exploit his administration abilities and rapport with players, media (does anyone remember his famous TV show in the early 90s). Finally I always admired him for his grit and resilience. Though I would never say that he was the best cricketer we ever had. I would always say that ‘Here was one ordinary guy who dared to do everything’. Whew… what a career he’s had... That’s something today’s youngsters should emulate. Hats off to the champion in Ravi Shastri..

Didis,Ammas and self made leaders

I recently wrote a post titled "Make way for the feminine" on the occasion of International Womens' day. India and particularly her voters have really seemed to have made that happen by electing two women into power in two states which are as disparate and distant from each other -yet politically and economically important states in the union. West Bengal elected Mamata Banerjee and Tamil Nadu choosing Jayalalitha as their leaders and subsequently elected as chief ministers. Both these victories were huge one sided victories for these ladies and in both the cases unseating established political systems that had ruled for long. The key,according to me here is not anti incumbency as poll analysts always like to put it across, but a clear hope that these women will deliver a corruption free governance. It is percieved and that  that women tend to be less corrupt than men . I happened to read the World Bank’s recent policy statement on gender equality, Engendering Development, asserts a strong relationship between relatively high levels of female involvement in public life and low levels of government corruption. Numerous surveys and statistical evidence have shown that countries with large number of women in politics and leadership roles have lower levels of corruption.

Whether the new incumbents at Writers building and Fort St George will live up to the expectation of reigning in corruption and providing good governace is seen. But these dynamic ladies have always made it clear that they mean business. And in the first few weeks in office, they seem to be making all the right noises. Hoping once again that these ladies will usher in a change, a change that this country needs so badly...A change that these self made leaders are expected to bring in especially when the country is struggling to get the Lokpal bill straight and through and bring back billions stashed away in tax havens around the world.

One of the most candid interviews i have ever seen on TV.. Featuring Dr. J Jayalalithaa
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=43516720611501596#