Viadeo and LinkedIn add new members, features

French social network for business Viadeo has announced its acquisition of Spain's IctNet in an attempt to increase its international reach and close the gap on leader LinkedIn and rival European site Xing.

The acquisition will bring with it 300,000 new members as well as an important boost to user numbers outside its native France. To date, in spite of making a push into the UK matket, the bulk of Viadeo's site traffic is still generated by French members.

This moves boosts its membership to over 3 million, behind Xing's 5 million and LinkedIn's 23 million members.

Also today LinkedIn has announced it is adding a search facility to its Groups feature, making it easier to find groups on the site which appeal to specfic needs or interests.

This feature has been seriously lacking, as Groups have been invitation only to date, unless you spotted a contact in a group and could follow the link from their profile. However, the Groups feature still remains a massive disappointment to those wanting to see a community and discussion forums within an interest area; or any way of assessing who in that Group could help you with your project. It remains little more than a directory of members, with precious little information available t help you find suitable partners. It does allow direct contact without needing to bother mutual contacts or upgrade to get InMail however.

Ian Hendry
WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz