LinkedIn’s overall member count is set to take a major hit, with the world’s largest professional network shutting down its remaining Chinese job service, called InCareer, which will also see the loss of 716 jobs. LinkedIn shut down its main LinkedIn platform in China back in 2021, due to government restrictions on its operations.

As a result, LinkedIn essentially reduced its Chinese presence to a simple job posting network, but now that, too, is going, which will see LinkedIn bid farewell to around 59 million members.

Shut Her Down, C

LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky says that the decision to end its InCareer project, originally called ‘InJobs’, comes as a result of ‘fierce competition and a challenging macroeconomic climate.’ It may sound rather generic, but essentially, LinkedIn has run into various restrictions and regulatory challenges relating to its Chinese operations, which now seem to have made it unworkable for the company to keep offering a limited China-only service.

As Roslansky explained:

“We’ll focus our China strategy on assisting companies operating in China to hire, market, and train abroad. This will involve maintaining our Talent, Marketing, and Learning businesses while phasing out InCareer, our local jobs app in China, by August 9, 2023.”

LinkedIn’s parent company, Microsoft, has been ramping up its operations in China, with its cloud computing division set to drive significant new potential in the market. Indications suggest that with China’s new data privacy laws coming into effect, LinkedIn has come under some heavy scrutiny, and rather than risk a showdown with Beijing officials. Instead, Microsoft pulled LinkedIn out of the market entirely, with around a third of the impacted staff to be reassigned to new roles.

In terms of overall growth, it’s not really a major blow for LinkedIn, especially considering the changes it has made to its operations in the region. As noted, it will see LinkedIn’s member count drop. However, it is also worth noting that ‘users’ are different from ‘members’, with reports also suggesting that the platform was never a hit with Chinese users, to begin with.

The Wrap

Essentially, the change comes as a result of several factors, there isn’t really an element that you can point to as the cause of LinkedIn’s demise in China. But it effectively means that the last remaining US social platform available inside the ‘Great Firewall’ is now gone. This also highlights the challenge now facing TikTok – if China is making operating conditions so difficult for US Social Media apps, or just outright blocking them, then why should Western Nations allow the app to keep operating?

Sources

https://bit.ly/3VWtBMj