How Will The Sale Of LinkedIn Affect Social Media's Future?

The sale of LinkedIn to Microsoft for $26.2 billion created waves, with people questioning why Microsoft has decided to move into the social media business to the future of social media itself. And that’s the question on everybody’s lips. This could well change the future of social media as we know it.

This article is going to examine the reasoning behind LinkedIn’s acquisition and what this could mean for the wider world of social media.

Why Did Microsoft Jump?

There’s no shortage of rationale surrounding why Microsoft decided to purchase LinkedIn. The main reason, although unmentioned, was that Microsoft needs a business within a growth industry. Since Twitter and Facebook are too large to purchase or are unwilling to sell, LinkedIn is the most logical choice.

But there are other reasons, including taking advantage of LinkedIn’s database, integrating LinkedIn’s feature with its own products, and training people to use educational software through the LinkedIn-owned company Lynda.

However, Microsoft will be hard pressed to turn LinkedIn around. Despite its position as one of the big social media networks, it still struggles to grow its base of users and keep people active.

The Sale Of LinkedIn Unveils A Common Social Media Problem

Social media networks have always struggled with how they are going to monetize their services. They have always struggled with explaining to users why they have to spend money on this feature of that feature. And LinkedIn has already tried a variety of new features.

Some of their failed experiments have included a Facebook newsfeed, the bringing in of influencers, and even mass marketing campaigns.

Now Microsoft has acted after failing to buy Salesforce. And that will scare many other social media companies because an acquisition is indicative that a company can no longer function as effectively independently as they can under a bigger brand.