While social networking in all its forms has bred a lot of new websites, and media hype to go with it, the beginnings of a shakeout seem to be in order.
On Wednesday, Seattle-based Jobster announced it was laying off 60 people — 40% of its staff. Jobster is a job board/career networking site (think Friendster for jobs) that has yet to make a penny in profit despite pulling in $48 million in venture capital money. With LinkedIn fast becoming the career networking site of choice, Jobster, the beneficiary of a lot of fawning press (imagine that in the web world!) seems to be losing steam.
So I think you’ll start seeing more Web 2.0 startups flame out the way so many early web ventures did in 2000 and 2001. It’s what happens to shooting stars, I guess.
Meanwhile, our friends at Talent Zoo are stepping up plans to expand–proving that you can grow a web-based business without $48 million in VC money.
