Buzzgain

LinkedIn is the #1 business social network by a wide margin.  Of the ~25.3 Million registered accounts that we track, ~20 Million have more than 2 connections. We decided to track more than 2 user connections since most folks just login to check things out when they get the first email invite. Of the 20+ Million users, only 1.9 Million (or 9%) have a blog (Or have chosen to add their blog to their profile).

Plaxo in comparison has 13% bloggers registered of their 16.7 active (more than 2 connections) users.

Xing the European business social network in comparison has 14% bloggers.

Now if you blog for business, you would get about 0.2% to 0.5% referral traffic from business social networks (based on relative comparisons). This is not a large amount, but it all adds up.

What are the top 5 reasons for not listing blogs on business network profiles that we heard from our informal survey of 15 bloggers who we know do not have their blogs listed on LinkedIn?

1. Did not bother to do it. Most people fill out their profile on an as needed basis, instead of all at once.

2. Did not know you could. Funnily enough many people who registered over 3 years ago with LinkedIn or Xing do not bother to come back and add their blog to their profile.

3. Not a significant source of traffic. The relative “engagement” of business social networks compared to others (such as Facebook or MySpace) is lower. Hence most users dont check them out very frequently. Even though LinkedIn and Plaxo have added “Status Updates” as part of their capability, they are relatively recent and over 80% of people still dont use them.

4. Blog is behind “closed doors” or is a private blog. This was the #1 reason given for not listing their blogs. Its unfortunate but true, most business blogs are within the 4 confines of intranets (yes they still exist).

5. Dont have a blog. This was the #2 reason. Although over 140 Million blogs exist and over 45 Million in English language alone, most “business folks” dont maintain an active blog.

Have you registered your blog with your business network profile? If not, why are you not doing it?