Elon Musk is coming for LinkedIn now. The habitually restless tech billionaire claimed this week that his social media platform X already offers 1 million job listings.
X, formerly Twitter, wants to be the everything app under Musk’s capricious command. His newly installed CEO, Linda Yaccarino, echoes Musk’s ambition to inflate X into a one-stop shop for news, messaging, transactions and now even jobs.
This encroachment onto LinkedIn’s turf may soon spell trouble for the career-focused social network. X’s job marketplace, dubbed “X Hiring,” currently lets users search listings without a paid X Premium subscription. But we can expect Musk to slap it behind a paywall soon enough.
For now, X Hiring remains half-baked. Some ostensible job posts look outdated or promotional. But Musk is clearlyserious about beefing up the vertical. X engineers are working hard to bring X Hiring to Android devices.
Between video calling, longform posting and the new premium service, X already approximates a full-fledged platform under Musk’s chaotic reign. Now he’s set his sights on LinkedIn, the go-to jobs board for white-collar professionals.
LinkedIn can’t be too worried…yet. X Hiring needs much more time to gestate. And LinkedIn has built durable network effects over many years as the internet’s workforce hub.
But Musk has repeatedly run roughshod over received wisdom about what’s possible in tech. He could invest heavily in developing X Hiring and integrate it with his other services. If so, LinkedIn may suddenly find itself challenged by a frighteningly capable competitor backed by Musk’s immense resources.
Knowing Musk and his “step on the gas” leadership style, LinkedIn would be foolish not to take his ambitions seriously. X transformed from staid social network to freewheeling megaplatform overnight after Musk’s takeover. LinkedIn could face a similar shock in short order.
