xing - Internet Marketing News and Blogs

B2B social network Xing is planning to introduce advertising for the first time before the end of the year, giving the company an extra revenue stream to add to subscriptions.

According to Xing, the targeted ads will only be introduced in certain sections and will "not compromise the usability of the website". But it says the volume of ads will increase over the next year.

Users of LinkedIn can now add photos to their profile pages, while users of German business network Xing will be able to add more personal and professional information to their profiles.

LinkedIn has resisted this move for some time as the lack of photos has set the site apart from other social networks, but has decided to give in to user requests.

Business social network Xing's membership reached 4m at the beginning of September, helped by its acquisition earlier this year of two Spanish networks.

Xing has posted some pretty impressive user growth figures recently, announcing in March that its membership had grown by 149% to 2m at the end of 2006.

Business network LinkedIn is reportedly gearing up for a possible IPO that would make it one of the first social networks to go public.

Reuters reports that the move could happen as early as next year, thanks to the company's rapid growth - its membership has doubled to almost 12m in the past nine months.

Business network LinkedIn is reportedly planning to open its platform to developers over the next nine months.

LinkedIn founder and chairman Reid Hoffman told Dan Farber that he wants to create a way for users who spend time on Facebook to get LinkedIn notifications.

German based business network Xing has formed a partnership with  ZoomInfo, a US-based business information search engine, in a deal which could potentially give it a larger network than LinkedIn.

It also marks a move into the English speaking world for Xing, and gives its members access to profiles of nearly 36m business people and 3.8m companies.

The impressive growth of German-based business network Xing is continuing, with the company announcing that its membership has now passed the 2m mark.

Xing recently recorded massive user growth in its end of year results for 2006, achieving membership growth of 149% last year, from 680,000 to around 1.6m members.

Xing, the German-based business social network, is expanding into the Spanish-speaking market with the purchase of eConozco, Spain's second biggest professional network.

Since launching in 2003, eConozco has reached around 150,000 members in Spain and Latin America. Both parties have agreed not to reveal the financial details of the deal.

Open Business Club AG, which operates German business social network Xing , has announced its preliminary results for 2006.

Back in December, Xing became the first web 2.0 company to go public, and its results for the past year show some pretty impressive growth.

Business social network LinkedIn has raised $12.8m (£6.5m) in a third round of funding, led by Bessemer and the European Founders Fund.

The move brings the total invested in LinkedIn to more than $26m (£13.2m), and valued the company at $250m (£127m).