Last week I wrote a story in which I said Jeff Weiner was getting quoted all over the place for dissing Google+, effectively saying that nobody has time for another social network. Today, I learned the quote I used as the basis for that categorization of Weiner’s opinion of Google Plus isn’t entirely accurate. So while the LinkedIn CEO was widely quoted last week saying he didn’t have any time for a new social network, it turns out that he’s actually “complimentary of Google,” says LinkedIn.
Business Insider, the source I used as the basis for my post, quoted Weiner as saying, “…you introduce google+, where am I going to spend that next minute or hour of my discretionary time? I have no more time.”
So my question to LinkedIn was, “Did Jeff not really say that at any point during the event?”
The answer? No. “…all of the subsequent stories misquoted him and are inaccurate,” wrote a spokesperson in an e-mail to me today.
Here’s some of what Weiner said at the event, unfiltered by Business Insider or anyone else:
“I would venture to say no one in this audience today has a lot of free time. And I think the short answer to your question of how many of these can we utilize is…not many more when it comes to these social platforms because unlike say, a social platform in television which as you know coexists, and I’m sure the agency spends a lot of time trying to think about that interaction, you don’t see a lot of people using Twitter while they’re using Facebook or using Facebook while they’re using LinkedIn. And so I think the addition of Google Plus, if it continues the current momentum that it’s generated, it makes what was I think a very understandable landscape—you use LinkedIn for your relevant professional services and Facebook for family and friends and Twitter to microcast or broadcast. You introduce a Google Plus and all of a sudden people start to say, OK, where am I going to spend that next minute or hour of my discretionary time? And at some point, we just don’t have any more time. So we have to make choices.”
Want to judge the LinkedIn CEO’s views on Google+ for yourself? Here’s a clip of Weiner talking about Google+ and other social platforms at a Churchill Club event last week.
