Xobni is a Bit More Useful with LinkedIn Integration, But Not Much

June 26th, 2008 arthurfreydin Posted in analytics |

Xobni, an Outlook email analytics & more plugin, just integrated [very sparse] LinkedIn data. No matter if Xobni is a bad startup name or not, it shows a lot of promise. I’ve used Xobni on and off ever since it was profiled on TC and was at first impressed. After some use however, I’ve noticed that aside from the email analytics function, I’ve already been using most of the features in Outlook itself. So after the initial novelty wore off, I eventually stopped using it.

Now, Xobni (”inbox” spelled backwards) has announced LinkedIn integration. It’s a great idea but flawed in implementation. You see, I already have a LinkedIn plugin for Outlook that I use pretty heavily. Xobni partnered up with LinkedIn to implement a small snippet of contact data (just position & company). All that partnership did is further clutter and already cluttered Xobni toolbar. If I wanted to see LinkedIn data on a contact, all I have to do is hover over the LinkedIn “info” button in Outlook.

Xobni’s core features is really where the bread & butter is and that is what they should focus on, especially after backing down from a $20M offer from Microsoft. Their email analytics data is actually pretty useful and their search is just a bit better than Outlook’s. I’d like to see them expand on that functionality as well as offer their plugin for more email providers other than Outlook.

PS. For those that are having trouble viewing LinkedIn data in their Xobni toolbar, you have to activate it first by going to Xobni > Options in your Outlook menu.