LinkedIn lockout
The LinkedIn revolution is offline in China.
Beijing blocked access to the social network for professionals as it has other sites that the government sees as subversive, including Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.
Analysts, however, don’t think the China ban should affect LinkedIn’s pending initial public offering.
“People were using LinkedIn as a way to communicate and stage protests,” said Colin Gillis, an analyst with BGC Partners. “So China is cracking down on social media, which has been driving a lot of protests around the world. So they’re blocked.”
Yesterday, LinkedIn confirmed its site was blocked for some of its estimated 1 million users in China, and that it was investigating. It’s unclear if the block will be permanent, but analysts, such as Gillis, expect a long-term ban.
China has grown increasingly concerned with the potential for a “Jasmine Revolution,” a term that has gained traction among dissidents who have been using it as a rallying cry for social and political change. Social networks were seen as a key driver in the regime-changing revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.
The Chinese don’t have direct access to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which were instrumental in those North African uprisings, which left LinkedIn as a go-to site to foment unrest.
Beijing permits homegrown social networks such as Renren.com, but it keeps a close watch on the mainland companies. Renren is also heading for an IPO.
Losing the country would be a minor setback for LinkedIn, which doesn’t even support Chinese as an official language on its site. Analysts said China has not become an important battleground because no US Web companies are finding success there.
Investors won’t be deciding whether to invest or not invest in LinkedIn based on China’s policy, analysts said.
“It’s a negative,” Gillis said. “But it’s unlikely many people would be buying the IPO for growth in China. [After all] no US Internet company is doing well in that market.”
