Konnects - a poor LinkedIn clone Wednesday, February 06, 2008

I received an invite this morning to a LinkedIn clone this morning, the main difference being this one is evidently a recent networking site that has yet to build up a sizeable user population.

As ever, there were many options for me to harvest my contacts from a variety of sources like webmail accounts, Outlook and Social Networks, before sending out invites to them to join me on Konnects. Unlike the more established LinkedIn, there were hardly any existing Konnects users amongst my 3,000+ contacts. Of course, I could have sent invites to them but this site had nothing to offer over LinkedIn.

Sure, you could create a blog, but why do that on this site when there are many dedicated sites that exist for that very purpose. Sadly, there was no option to embed an existing blog that I could find.

More irritating was that to be able to view the profile of the person who invited me, I was required to fully set up my profile on the site inc professional details etc. - sorry, couldn't be bothered. I can understand that the site will improve with more complete profiles on there and hence they have to encourage people to fill out their info, but at this point, the site hasn't even engaged with me to demonstrate it can offer me value. I found this a frustrating user experience and too high a barrier when first browsing the site.

But just to demonstrate the insecurity of the site, I couldn't find any way to close my account. Looking in the Help Section showed why

There is no cost to keep your profile on Konnects. There is only a cost if you have exhausted your free messages. We recommend that you keep your profile live on Konnects even if you choose not to subscribe to the service. You never know…someone may see your profile and try to bring a business opportunity your way. You can always subscribe at that point!

To close your Konnects account please contact us. Please include your full name and company name.

In other words, "we are going to make it hard for you to leave, not to mention create work for ourselves in the process!" Dumb.

Konnects lacks any delight factor, and certainly offers no edge over LinkedIn. From what I've seen so far I would recommend to steer clear.

UPDATE : The contact form to close an account doesn't work!

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posted by John Wilson @ 11:47 AM Permanent Link newsvine reddit



6 Comments:

At 1:28 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello John,
Thank you for your feedback. We do value your input and will take all of your points into consideration for the future enhancements and releases. We believe Konnects is different than other sites because we have communities that allow you to engage and stay engaged with other professionals within your industry or area that you are located. Our site is growing very quickly and enhancements are continually being made. It is our hope that as we continue to grow and enhance that you will find value in Konnects that others do not have. Thank you again and have a great day.

 
At 9:40 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

John:

I found your post v. valuable, as I keep getting invitations to "connect" on all different kinds of platforms.

Just how many social media sites can one subscribe to? It might make sense to participate at 2 or 3 -- but we can spread ourselves too thin if we devote time and effort to much more than that!

All the best,

 
At 7:10 PM, Blogger Josiah Carlson said...

Thank you for your post on Konnects. I recently received an invitation to connect on the network, and hadn't planned on joining. Reading your perspective put the nail in the coffin for me.

 
At 7:42 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

John, Konnects is a fairly young site and is changing quite fast. I think they have a different value proposition than LinkedIn. They try to cater to the younger professionals and they are more about lets hook up to do business together. LinkedIn is different - it is about Lets hook up since we worked or studied together - so it is more like a resume maintanance site. Looking at their Alexa rating, I think Konnects has appeal.

Cheers,

Alex

 
At 11:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi John, I thought the same thoughts when I recieved multiple invites to join the Konnects network. I finally joined and have to say that the site does offer different services than LinkedIn. I agree with the previous poster's comments that LinkedIn is more about connecting with people you alread know where as Konnects allows you to meet people who you do not know but have the same interests when it comes to business. I would say a Facebook for business professionals. Happy networking!

 
At 10:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

For those who want to start their own LinkedIn Site - i found http://www.business-space.org/ although I am not ready yet :-)

 

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