LinkedIn drops Bite after citing conflict of interests

PR Week UK 31-Oct-07, 18:11

Social networking site LinkedIn is reviewing its agency relationships - weeks after bringing in Bite Communications.

LinkedIn appointed Bite in September to raise its profile. But in October Bite picked up the sought-after Facebook account. That win has prompted LinkedIn to cut ties with the agency, citing a conflict of interests. LinkedIn is understood to be already in talks with other firms.

Bite MD David Hargreaves said he was ‘surprised’ by the decision and insisted that LinkedIn had been made aware of his agency’s attempts to secure the Facebook account.

LinkedIn is targeted solely at business professionals, but recently its target audience has been migrating to Facebook.

LinkedIn international director Liz O’Donnell previously did not deny that competition from Facebook was a motivating factor for Bite’s appointment.

Speaking to PRWeek when the site hired Bite, she said: ‘We didn’t have any PR in the UK before. Some of it had to do with competition, and some was just about raising our brand’s profile.’