LinkedIn Launches ProFinder
It’s a smart if probably inevitable move: LinkedIn is leveraging its deep base of professional users and resumes to roll out a new marketplace for freelance and contract professionals. The way it works is simple: you post your freelancer need, LinkedIn forwards it to freelancers who have signed up as “LinkedIn Pros.” Postings are apparently forwarded based on categories selected in advance by the LinkedIn Pro, not some more sophisticated algorithm.
ProFinder is very much in the awkward and dangerous early stage all marketplaces contend with: not enough buyers or sellers right now. My posting for a content strategist (with admittedly random criteria) yielded no matches, something LinkedIn will need to overcome fairly quickly. That said, this is an excellent example of how to generate multiple revenue streams from distinct markets off a single platform. Keep an eye on how LinkedIn evolves this new service: they’ve shown themselves to be pretty sure-footed this far in the professional connections space.
pinGo Introduces Display Advertising
You may recall our 2014 Model of Excellence winner SpinGo. In a nutshell, SpinGo is a master database of events that it distributed through thousands of media outlets that want local events listings, but don’t want to do the work of checking and maintaining the listings. Basic listings are free, but SpinGo also offers paid listing enhancements that give these listings more prominence.
Now, SpinGo goes a step farther, allowing event organizers to create an online ad (in a totally self-serve environment) that lets them advertise their events on the news pages of many of its media partners. SpinGo shares revenue with its media partners of course, and reinforces its position as the one-stop shop for event organizers to list and promote their events online.
Quorum Analytics Closes the Loop
One of our 2015 Model of Excellence picks, Quorum Analytics, caught our eye because it is bringing powerful analytics to the world of lobbying and advocacy, starting with the world’s largest database of legislative information, both federal and state level.
But identifying legislators to target is only part of the job. Real legislative influence depends on grass-level support. That’s why Quorum has just released the Quorum Action Center. The Action Center enables supporters – think members of a trade association, for example -- to quickly take action on issues of importance by writing, calling, or tweeting their legislators, signing a petition, and even sharing content on social media—all from a single customizable web page. By making it easier to harness interested constituencies to make their opinions known to legislators on topics of interest, Quorum becomes a true plug-and-play tool for those in the business of influencing the legislative process.