I just promised a post on why I like LinkedIn, and why I find Xing useless. First thing first, Xing, here it goes, It turned out a bit long, so brace yourself. Next will be the LinkedIn one.

I have to admit, that I was already on LinkedIn when I registered on Xing, and that probably skewes my perception a bit, but I think not too much.

When I went to Xing, I did all the usual things, register, set up a profile, and there I ran into my first problem. When you fill out the Professional Experience block, Xing doesn’t really care about the years you enter with your workplaces, the topmost position will be the one you entered last. And there is no way to reorganize it – at least, I did not find any. So after I gladly entered everything, I spent about half an hour to creat a blank position, and move content in the right order, and then to delete the on at the bottom. Not a good start.

Then, I set out to explore the big vast land of Xing, and here came the most painful surprise. When I regitered, I just wanted a simple membership. A simple, non-premium membership, which is free, so I can try out Xing. Now, there is a free membership all right. Only problem is that you can’t do anything with that. You can use a limited search option, but if you click on a profile, it takes you to an upgrade page.

What does it mean? Well, if you have a basic, non-paying membership, then you actually got a site where you put on a very limited version of your CV, fill out the Haves and Wants, and wait for people to find you. Like a very simple job resume site, like Monster, or Totaljobs, only I joined Xing for a different reason.

Ok, you can join groups, and post on the group forums, but that’s it, it’s rather difficult to connect people with a basic profile.

Now came my birthday, and I got a 10 days premium membership as a gift, and now I can try it out for a bit more. Differences: you can set your status message. Yes, if you are a premium member, you can tell the world, that you are Working on a technical specification for a client. For 5.95 EUR.

But wait, there are more differences, you can actually click on the profiles when you search for people, and you are taken to the profile page. Now, we can start to use it. Lots, and lots of empty profiles. About a dozen I found points to their LinkedIn profile.

Now, there are good things in Xing too, and it is useable with a premium profile for sure. I like the Wants section, I like that you can search for groups. There are a lot more Continental Europeans than on LinkedIn.

The Employment status is a nice thing, but not overly important. On one hand I like that I can see the profile of those who checked my profile, but it means that you cannot hide it like on LinkedIn (note, I don’t really mind that, I don’t hide it even on LinkedIn. I click on you, you see it was me).

I like the Event part, although most of the time I decline them – first invite for an Event on Xing was for senior management. Still don’t know why I got that one. However, now I got an invitation to a BBQ party not too far from my place, I am going to check it out. And there will be golf too. Probably won’t fit in with the crowd, but sounds like a good evening programme :).

So that it. If you buy premium membership, it is an OK thing I think. If you work in Europe, go for it.

But it actually does not give you anything over LinkedIn. There are no non-group forums. No Answers & Questions, no recommendations. Actually, the whole premium membership does not give you anything beyond the ability to use the site.

On the other hand, on LinkedIn you can have all of it for free. And more contacts, more active community. And the A&Q section beats the Forums hands down, where you have dozens, hundreds of 1 post threads, and only for group members.

So now comes you, tell me what’s your take on Xing?