LinkedIn vs. GirlBoss
Success for women in business everywhere.
the quick answer:
girlboss.com
LinkedIn is a professional social media platform that provides connections to professionals and companies in a wide range of industries. Profile pages are set up in a way similar to a traditional resume, where users can list out their education, background, work experiences, skills, and more. With an aim of “connecting the business world” and an understanding of the importance of building and leveraging networks within a professional setting, LinkedIn is now the fastest-growing, most recognized professional social media platform in the world.
LinkedIn had a rough start in its earlier days. Founded in 2003 by Reid Hoffman, Allen Blue, Konstantin Guericket, and Jean-Luc Vaillant, the first few weeks of launch received less than 20 sign-ups. Adding different features in 2005-2006 such as ‘Groups’, ‘People You May Know’, ‘Recommendations’, and ‘Jobs and Subscriptions’ was a game-changer for LinkedIn, and by 2007 the company started seeing exponential growth and finally became profitable. By the beginning of 2011, LinkedIn boasted 90 million members and was listed on tech New York Stock Exchange. A decade after it was founded, LinkedIn then had 225 million members with a growth rate of 2 new members every second. By 2017, after Microsoft acquired the company, LinkedIn was used by 500 million members in 200 countries.
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Although LinkedIn is in no way inhibiting women’s abilities to network in a professional setting, Sophia Amoruso, founder of Nasty Gal and the media startup Girlboss, felt the need to build on the Girlboss community through a sleeker, more millennial-friendly, women-centric alternative to LinkedIn. Amoruso says that LinkedIn hasn’t evolved to fit the professional networking needs of young women, many of whom have multiple part-time jobs or career gaps that look out of place on a traditional resume. In addition, during her 2014 book tour, Amoruso noticed that while people waited to get their books signed, women in line would strike up conversation and exchange business cards, something that “seemed even more important to them than the book itself — that they were able to find self-selecting women who had ambition, who might be small business owners, who want to level-up in their careers. And there was really no other place to do that.”
As the “harbinger of women’s entrepreneurship”, Girlboss articles, podcasts, rallies, books, and a Facebook group of 5,000 women was immensely popular. But the team felt that they needed to do better, and went on to create their own space for women to connect with one another, resulting in a professional women’s network for “anyone who has ambition in their career”. The idea for Girlboss is a place where women “can share not just what they do but who they are, in a world where we’re not LinkedIn Monday through Friday and Instagram Saturday and Sunday – we’re so much more than that.” With that, the Girlboss Collective is designed with women in mind, although it is open to people of any gender.
With Girlboss’ new professional network, female entrepreneurs, creatives, and freelancers can connect with like-minded peers and notable members of their industry in a professional setting. Beth Comstock, Arianna Huffington, and Bozoma St. John are just a few of the prominent names that lead weekly “ask me anything” sessions on the platform with questions ranging from how to negotiate a salary to the best coffee shops for working in a particular city. Forming a twist on LinkedIn’s traditional resume-like profile, Girlboss profiles allow member to share their work experience and a quick fill-in-the-blank bio that includes their daily horoscope reading and your story (Amoruso believes resumes aren’t the key to getting a job, your story is). Girlboss also aims to encourage more meaningful connections compared to LinkedIn, with members only being able to send one connection request a day with their intentions stated.
“This is a place where honesty is mandatory and the commitment of everyone within the community is to learn, grow, and help one another. We exist to redefine successes for millennial women by providing the tools and connections they need to own their futures.” By creating a new reality where women can make progress personally, professionally, and in the service of others, Girlboss has created a “community of strong, curious, and ambitious women redefining success on our own terms. The content created serves to inform, entertain, and inspire action through the content and experiences we create, unapologetically supporting girls and women who are chasing dreams both big and small” through humor, resourcefulness, vulnerability, curiosity, and inclusivity.
“I hope women can share not just what they do, but who they are, and bring a sense of their personality and aspirations and things they’re really proud of to their profiles,” Amoruso says. “There’s a sense of levity. This isn’t a stiff, stale professional networking environment. Our hope is that Girlboss will be the largest digital network of women to take control of their careers, money and lives and will continue to do that through our award-winning content and experiences.” With free membership, Girlboss ensures that they are accessible to anyone, especially for women who can’t afford to join a members-only, paid platform. Moreover, job postings, 50+ hours of counsel videos that offer career advice, mentorship programs, and more features make the platform particularly beneficial for women in rural areas or small towns, where there may not be many other like-minded businesswomen in their direct surrounding communities.
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Sources:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/06/sophia-amoruso-women-are-beginning-to-write-our-own-history.html
https://www.wsj.com/articles/girlboss-plans-new-social-network-for-women-entrepreneurs-1540303126
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/319678
https://thelinkedinman.com/history-linkedin/
https://topdogsocialmedia.com/linkedin-history/
https://money.cnn.com/2009/06/02/smallbusiness/linkedin_startup_story.smb/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/real-girlboss-rise-fall-nasty-gal-founder-sophia-amoruso/
https://www.fastcompany.com/90370787/girlboss-launched-a-linkedin-for-millennial-women
https://www.girlboss.com/about
https://candybitsocial.com/news/history-of-linkedin