As a student employee who has had to learn new software for my old jobs, I have spent long hours watching videos on Lynda.com, an online learning company.
Truthfully, the videos weren’t bad. I felt like I actually learned something! Because of this, I’m excited for Lynda.com’s new partnership with LinkedIn. It’s the right move for LinkedIn, a social network for job seekers, to partner with a pioneering educational company.
This move is a smart one for LinkedIn because it can only boost the strength of the brand. The site currently boasts a user base of 300 million people all across the globe. Partnering with Lynda.com brings a new service to LinkedIn’s vast amount of users that will help them develop professionally. After all, that’s what LinkedIn is about, right?
By taking advantage of the new service, users will be able to boost their resume and tailor their learning to a specific job. For example, perhaps an internship you want to apply for requires knowledge of Microsoft Access. You don’t have this knowledge, but you can learn it on Lynda.com.
This expansion of LinkedIn’s services is also a boost for the online learning market. It will allow Lynda.com and other similar companies to expand product offerings.
Unfortunately, it has yet to be determined whether this service will be free for LinkedIn users. LinkedIn will need to determine how to best incorporate the new features in order to make sure this acquisition will be as successful as possible.
LinkedIn also needs to address the fact that this acquisition will change its future. LinkedIn is acquiring Lynda.com for $1.5 billion. The companies need to focus on expanding this partnership before they can jump into anything new, and that might take a while.
As the training videos paid off for me, I hope this acquisition will pay off for LinkedIn. $1.5 billion would be a costly mistake.
