Fax

Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (the latter short
for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and
images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device. The
original document is scanned with a fax machine (or a telecopier), which processes the
contents (text or images) as a single fixed graphic image, converting it into a bitmap, and then
transmitting it through the telephone system in the form of audio-frequency tones. The
receiving fax machine interprets the tones and reconstructs the image, printing a paper copy.
[1]
Early systems used direct conversions of image darkness to audio tone in a continuous or
analog manner. Since the 1980s, most machines modulate the transmitted audio frequencies
using a digital representation of the page which is compressed to quickly transmit areas
which are all-white or all-black.

History[edit]

Wire transmission[edit]

Scottish inventor Alexander Bain worked on chemical mechanical fax type devices and in
1846 was able to reproduce graphic signs in laboratory experiments. He received British
patent 9745 on May 27, 1843 for his "Electric Printing Telegraph."[2] Frederick
Bakewell made several improvements on Bain's design and demonstrated a telefax machine.
The Pantelegraph was invented by the Italian physicist Giovanni Caselli. He introduced the
first commercial telefax service between Paris and Lyon in 1865, some 11 years before the
invention of the telephone.[3][4]

In 1880, English inventor Shelford Bidwell constructed the scanning phototelegraph that was
the first telefax machine to scan any two-dimensional original, not requiring manual plotting
or drawing. Around 1900, German physicist Arthur Korn invented the Bildtelegraph,
widespread in continental Europe especially, since a widely noticed transmission of a wanted-
person photograph from Paris to London in 1908, used until the wider distribution of the
radiofax. Its main competitors were the Blinographe by douard Belin first, then since the
1930s the Hellschreiber, invented in 1929 by German inventor Rudolf Hell, a pioneer in
mechanical image scanning and transmission.

The 1888 invention of the telautograph by Elisha Gray marked a further development in fax
technology, allowing users to send signatures over long distances, thus allowing the
verification of identification or ownership over long distances.[5]

On May 19, 1924, scientists of the AT&T Corporation "by a new process of transmitting
pictures by electricity" sent 15 photographs by telephone from Cleveland to New York City,
such photos suitable for newspaper reproduction. Previously, photographs had been sent over
the radio using this process.[6]

The Western Union "Deskfax" fax machine, announced in 1948, was a compact machine that
fit comfortably on a desktop, using special spark printer paper.[7]

Wireless transmission[edit]

Main article: Radiofax

As a designer for the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), in 1924, Richard H.

Ranger invented the wireless photoradiogram, or transoceanic radio facsimile, the forerunner
of todays "fax" machines. A photograph of President Calvin Coolidge sent from New York to
London on November 29, 1924 became the first photo picture reproduced by transoceanic
radio facsimile. Commercial use of Rangers product began two years later. Also in
1924, Herbert E. Ives of AT&T transmitted and reconstructed the first color facsimile, a
natural-color photograph of silent film star Rudolph Valentino in period costume, using red,
green and blue color separations.[8]

Beginning in the late 1930s, the Finch Facsimile system was used to transmit a "radio
newspaper" to private homes via commercial AM radio stations and ordinary radio receivers
equipped with Finch's printer, which used thermal paper. Sensing a new and potentially
golden opportunity, competitors soon entered the field, but the printer and special paper were
expensive luxuries, AM radio transmission was very slow and vulnerable to static, and the
newspaper was too small. After more than ten years of repeated attempts by Finch and others
to establish such a service as a viable business, the public, apparently quite content with its
cheaper and much more substantial home-delivered daily newspapers, and with conventional
spoken radio bulletins to provide any "hot" news, still showed only a passing curiosity about
the new medium.[9]

By the late 1940s, radiofax receivers were sufficiently miniaturized to be fitted beneath the
dashboard of Western Union's "Telecar" telegram delivery vehicles.[7]

In the 1960s, the United States Army transmitted the first photograph via
satellite facsimile to Puerto Rico from the Deal Test Site using the Courier satellite.

Radio fax is still in limited use today for transmitting weather charts and information to ships
at sea.[citation needed]

Telephone transmission[edit]

In 1964, Xerox Corporation introduced (and patented) what many consider to be the first
commercialized version of the modern fax machine, under the name (LDX) or Long Distance
Xerography. This model was superseded two years later with a unit that would truly set the
standard for fax machines for years to come. Up until this point facsimile machines were very
expensive and hard to operate. In 1966, Xerox released the Magnafax Telecopiers, a smaller,
46-pound facsimile machine. This unit was far easier to operate and could be connected to
any standard telephone line. This machine was capable of transmitting a letter-sized
document in about six minutes. The first sub-minute, digital fax machine was developed
by Dacom, which built on digital data compression technology originally developed
at Lockheed for satellite communication.[10][11]

By the late 1970s, many companies around the world (especially Japan) entered the fax
market. Very shortly after a new wave of more compact, faster and efficient fax machines
would hit the market. Xerox continued to refine the fax machine for years after their ground-
breaking first machine. In later years it would be combined with copier equipment to create
the hybrid machines we have today that copy, scan and fax. Some of the lesser known
capabilities of the Xerox fax technologies included their Ethernet enabled Fax Services on
their 8000 workstations in the early 1980s.
Prior to the introduction of the ubiquitous fax machine, one of the first being
the Exxon Qwip[12] in the mid-1970s, facsimile machines worked by optical scanning of a
document or drawing spinning on a drum. The reflected light, varying in intensity according
to the light and dark areas of the document, was focused on a photocell so that the current in a
circuit varied with the amount of light. This current was used to control a tone generator
(a modulator), the current determining the frequency of the tone produced. This audio tone
was then transmitted using an acoustic coupler (a speaker, in this case) attached to the
microphone of a common telephone handset. At the receiving end, a handsets speaker was
attached to an acoustic coupler (a microphone), and a demodulator converted the varying tone
into a variable current that controlled the mechanical movement of a pen or pencil to
reproduce the image on a blank sheet of paper on an identical drum rotating at the same rate.

Computer facsimile interface[edit]

In 1985, Hank Magnuski, founder of GammaLink, produced the first computer fax board,
called GammaFax. Such boards could provide voice telephony via Analog Expansion Bus.[13]

Fax in the 21st century[edit]

Although businesses usually maintain some kind of fax capability, the technology has faced
increasing competition from Internet-based alternatives. In some countries,
because electronic signatures on contracts are not yet recognized by law, while faxed
contracts with copies of signatures are, fax machines enjoy continuing support in business.
[14]
In Japan, faxes are still used extensively for cultural and graphemic reasons and are
available for sending to both domestic and international recipients from over 81% of all
convenience stores nationwide. Convenience-store fax machines commonly print the slightly
re-sized content of the sent fax in the electronic confirmation-slip, in A4 paper size.[15][16][17]

In many corporate environments, freestanding fax machines have been replaced by fax
servers and other computerized systems capable of receiving and storing incoming faxes
electronically, and then routing them to users on paper or via an email (which may be
secured). Such systems have the advantage of reducing costs by eliminating unnecessary
printouts and reducing the number of inbound analog phone lines needed by an office.

The once ubiquitous fax machine has also begun to disappear from the small office and home
office environments. Remotely hosted fax-server services are widely available from VoIP and
e-mail providers allowing users to send and receive faxes using their existing e-mail accounts
without the need for any hardware or dedicated fax lines. Personal computers have also long
been able to handle incoming and outgoing faxes using analog modems or ISDN, eliminating
the need for a stand-alone fax machine. These solutions are often ideally suited for users who
only very occasionally need to use fax services. In July 2017 the NHS was said to be the
world's largest purchaser of fax machines because the digital revolution has largely bypassed
it.[18]

Capabilities[edit]

There are several indicators of fax capabilities: group, class, data transmission rate, and
conformance with ITU-T (formerly CCITT) recommendations. Since the 1968 Carterphone
decision, most fax machines have been designed to connect to standard PSTN lines and
telephone numbers.

Group[edit]

Analog[edit]

Group 1 and 2 faxes are sent in the same manner as a frame of analog television, with each
scanned line transmitted as a continuous analog signal. Horizontal resolution depended upon
the quality of the scanner, transmission line, and the printer. Analog fax machines are
obsolete and no longer manufactured. ITU-T Recommendations T.2 and T.3 were withdrawn
as obsolete in July 1996.

Group 1 faxes conform to the ITU-T Recommendation T.2. Group 1 faxes take six
minutes to transmit a single page, with a vertical resolution of 96 scan lines per inch.
Group 1 fax machines are obsolete and no longer manufactured.

Group 2 faxes conform to the ITU-T Recommendations T.30 and T.3. Group 2 faxes
take three minutes to transmit a single page, with a vertical resolution of 96 scan lines per
inch. Group 2 fax machines are almost obsolete, and are no longer manufactured. Group
2 fax machines can interoperate with Group 3 fax machines.

Digital[edit]

A major breakthrough in the development of the modern facsimile system was the result of
digital technology, where the analog signal from scanners was digitized and then compressed,
resulting in the ability to transmit high rates of data across standard phone lines. The first
digital fax machine was the Dacom Rapidfax first sold in late 1960s, which incorporated
digital data compression technology developed by Lockheed for transmission of images from
satellites.[10][11]

Group 3 and 4 faxes are digital formats, and take advantage of digital compression methods
to greatly reduce transmission times.

Group 3 faxes conform to the ITU-T Recommendations T.30 and T.4. Group 3 faxes
take between six and fifteen seconds to transmit a single page (not including the initial
time for the fax machines to handshake and synchronize). The horizontal and vertical
resolutions are allowed by the T.4 standard to vary among a set of fixed resolutions:

Horizontal: 100 scan lines per inch

Vertical: 100 scan lines per inch ("Basic")

Horizontal: 200 or 204 scan lines per inch

Vertical: 100 or 98 scan lines per inch ("Standard")

Vertical: 200 or 196 scan lines per inch ("Fine")

Vertical: 400 or 391 (note not 392) scan lines per inch ("Superfine")

Horizontal: 300 scan lines per inch

Vertical: 300 scan lines per inch

Horizontal: 400 or 408 scan lines per inch

Vertical: 400 or 391 scan lines per inch ("Ultrafine")

Group 4 faxes conform to the ITU-T Recommendations T.563, T.503, T.521, T.6,
T.62, T.70, T.411 to T.417. They are designed to operate over 64 kbit/s
digital ISDN circuits. The allowed resolutions, a superset of those in the T.4
recommendation, are specified in the T.6 recommendation.[19]
Fax Over IP (FoIP) can transmit and receive pre-digitized documents at near realtime speeds
using ITU-T recommendation T.38 to send digitised images over an IP
network using JPEG compression. T.38 is designed to work with VoIP services and often
supported by analog telephone adapters used by legacy fax machines that need to connect
through a VoIP service. Scanned documents are limited to the amount of time the user takes
to load the document in a scanner and for the device to process a digital file. The resolution
can vary from as little as 150 DPI to 9600 DPI or more. This type of faxing is not related to
the e-mail to fax service that still uses fax modems at least one way.

Class[edit]

Computer modems are often designated by a particular fax class, which indicates how much
processing is offloaded from the computer's CPU to the fax modem.

Class 1 fax devices do fax data transfer where the T.4/T.6 data compression and T.30
session management are performed by software on a controlling computer. This is
described in ITU-T recommendation T.31.[20]

Class 2 fax devices perform T.30 session management themselves, but the T.4/T.6
data compression is performed by software on a controlling computer. The relevant ITU-
T recommendation is T.32.[20]

Class 2.0 is different from Class 2.

Class 2.1 is an improvement of Class 2.0. Class 2.1 fax devices are referred to as
"super G3"; they seem to be a little faster than Class 1/2/2.0.

Class 3 fax devices are responsible for virtually the entire fax session, given little
more than a phone number and the text to send (including rendering ASCII text as a raster
image). These devices are not common.

Data transmission rate[edit]

Several different telephone line modulation techniques are used by fax machines. They are
negotiated during the fax-modem handshake, and the fax devices will use the highest data
rate that both fax devices support, usually a minimum of 14.4 kbit/s for Group 3 fax.
 ITU Standard Released Date Data Rates (bit/s) Modulation Method

V.27 1988 4800, 2400 PSK

V.29 1988 9600, 7200, 4800 QAM

V.17 1991 14,400; 12,000; 9600; 7200 TCM

V.34 1994 28,800 QAM

V.34bis 1998 33,600 QAM

ISDN 1986 64,000 digital

Note that "Super Group 3" faxes use V.34bis modulation that allows a data rate of up to
33.6 kbit/s.

Compression[edit]

As well as specifying the resolution (and allowable physical size of the image being
faxed), the ITU-T T.4 recommendation specifies two compression methods for decreasing
the amount of data that needs to be transmitted between the fax machines to transfer the
image. The two methods defined in T.4 are:[21]

Modified Huffman (MH), and

Modified READ (MR) (Relative Element Address Designate[22]), optional

An additional method is specified in T.6:[19]

Modified Modified READ (MMR)

Later, other compression techniques were added as options to ITU-T recommendation

T.30, such as the more efficient JBIG (T.82, T.85) for bi-level content, and JPEG (T.81),
T.43, MRC (T.44), and T.45 for grayscale, palette, and colour content.[23] Fax machines
can negotiate at the start of the T.30 session to use the best technique implemented on
both sides.

Modified Huffman[edit]

Main article: Modified Huffman coding

Modified Huffman (MH), specified in T.4 as the one-dimensional coding scheme, is a

codebook-based run-length encoding scheme optimised to efficiently compress
whitespace.[21] As most faxes consist mostly of white space, this minimises the
transmission time of most faxes. Each line scanned is compressed independently of its
predecessor and successor.[21]

Modified READ[edit]

Modified READ (MR), specified as an optional two-dimensional coding scheme in T.4,

encodes the first scanned line using MH.[21] The next line is compared to the first, the
differences determined, and then the differences are encoded and transmitted.[21] This is
effective as most lines differ little from their predecessor. This is not continued to the end
of the fax transmission, but only for a limited number of lines until the process is reset
and a new 'first line' encoded with MH is produced. This limited number of lines is to
prevent errors propagating throughout the whole fax, as the standard does not provide for
error-correction. MR is an optional facility, and some fax machines do not use MR in
order to minimise the amount of computation required by the machine. The limited
number of lines is two for 'Standard' resolution faxes, and four for 'Fine' resolution faxes.

Modified Modified READ[edit]

Main article: Group 4 compression

The ITU-T T.6 recommendation adds a further compression type of Modified Modified
READ (MMR), which simply allows for a greater number of lines to be coded by MR
than in T.4.[19] This is because T.6 makes the assumption that the transmission is over a
circuit with a low number of line errors such as digital ISDN. In this case, there is no
maximum number of lines for which the differences are encoded.
JBIG[edit]

In 1999, ITU-T recommendation T.30 added JBIG (ITU-T T.82) as another lossless bi-
level compression algorithm, or more precisely a "fax profile" subset of JBIG (ITU-T
T.85). JBIG-compressed pages result in 20% to 50% faster transmission than MMR-
compressed pages, and up to 30-times faster transmission if the page
includes halftone images.

JBIG performs adaptive compression, that is both the encoder and decoder collect
statistical information about the transmitted image from the pixels transmitted so far, in
order to predict the probability for each next pixel being either black or white. For each
new pixel, JBIG looks at ten nearby, previously transmitted pixels. It counts, how often in
the past the next pixel has been black or white in the same neighborhood, and estimates
from that the probability distribution of the next pixel. This is fed into an arithmetic
coder, which adds only a small fraction of a bit to the output sequence if the more
probable pixel is then encountered.

The ITU-T T.85 "fax profile" constrains some optional features of the full JBIG standard,
such that codecs do not have to keep data about more than the last three pixel rows of an
image in memory at any time. This allows the streaming of "endless" images, where the
height of the image may not be known until the last row is transmitted.

ITU-T T.30 allows fax machines to negotiate one of two options of the T.85 "fax profile":

In "basic mode", the JBIG encoder must split the image into horizontal stripes of 128
lines (parameter L0=128), and restart the arithmetic encoder for each stripe.

In "option mode", there is no such constraint.

Matsushita Whiteline Skip[edit]

A proprietary compression scheme employed on Panasonic fax machines is Matsushita

Whiteline Skip (MWS). It can be overlaid on the other compression schemes, but is
operative only when two Panasonic machines are communicating with one another. This
system detects the blank scanned areas between lines of text, and then compresses several
blank scan lines into the data space of a single character. (JBIG implements a similar
technique called "typical prediction", if header flag TPBON is set to 1.)
Typical characteristics[edit]

Group 3 fax machines transfer one or a few printed or handwritten pages per minute in
black-and-white (bitonal) at a resolution of 20498 (normal) or 204196 (fine) dots per
square inch. The transfer rate is 14.4 kbit/s or higher for modems and some fax machines,
but fax machines support speeds beginning with 2400 bit/s and typically operate at 9600
bit/s. The transferred image formats are called ITU-T (formerly CCITT) fax group 3 or 4.
Group 3 faxes have the suffix .g3 and the MIME type image/g3fax.

The most basic fax mode transfers in black and white only. The original page is scanned
in a resolution of 1728 pixels/line and 1145 lines/page (for A4). The resulting raw data
is compressed using a modified Huffman code optimized for written text, achieving
average compression factors of around 20. Typically a page needs 10 s for transmission,
instead of about 3 minutes for the same uncompressed raw data of 17281145 bits at a
speed of 9600 bit/s. The compression method uses a Huffman codebook for run lengths
of black and white runs in a single scanned line, and it can also use the fact that two
adjacent scanlines are usually quite similar, saving bandwidth by encoding only the
differences.

Fax classes denote the way fax programs interact with fax hardware. Available classes
include Class 1, Class 2, Class 2.0 and 2.1, and Intel CAS. Many modems support at least
class 1 and often either Class 2 or Class 2.0. Which is preferable to use depends on
factors such as hardware, software, modem firmware, and expected use.

Printing process[edit]

Fax machines from the 1970s to the 1990s often used direct thermal printers with rolls of
thermal paper as their printing technology, but since the mid-1990s there has been a
transition towards plain-paper faxes:- thermal transfer printers, inkjet printers and laser
printers.

One of the advantages of inkjet printing is that inkjets can affordably print in color;
therefore, many of the inkjet-based fax machines claim to have color fax capability. There
is a standard called ITU-T30e (formally ITU-T Recommendation T.30 Annex E [24]) for
faxing in color; unfortunately, it is not widely supported, so many of the color fax
machines can only fax in color to machines from the same manufacturer.
Stroke speed[edit]

Stroke speed in facsimile systems is the rate at which a fixed line perpendicular to the
direction of scanning is crossed in one direction by a scanning or recording spot. Stroke
speed is usually expressed as a number of strokes per minute. When the fax system scans
in both directions, the stroke speed is twice this number. In most conventional 20th
century mechanical systems, the stroke speed is equivalent to drum speed.[25]

Fax paper[edit]

As a precaution, thermal fax paper is typically not accepted in archives or as

documentary evidence in some courts of law unless photocopied. This is because the
image-forming coating is eradicable and brittle, and it tends to detach from the medium
after a long time in storage.[26]

Internet fax[edit]

One popular alternative is to subscribe to an Internet fax service, allowing users to send
and receive faxes from their personal computers using an existing email account. No
software, fax server or fax machine is needed. Faxes are received as
attached TIFF or PDF files, or in proprietary formats that require the use of the service
provider's software. Faxes can be sent or retrieved from anywhere at any time that a user
can get Internet access. Some services offer secure faxing to comply with
stringent HIPAA and GrammLeachBliley Act requirements to keep medical
information and financial information private and secure. Utilizing a fax service provider
does not require paper, a dedicated fax line, or consumable resources.[27]

Another alternative to a physical fax machine is to make use of computer software which
allows people to send and receive faxes using their own computers, utilizing fax
servers and unified messaging. A virtual (email) fax can be printed out and then signed
and scanned back to computer before being emailed. Also the sender can attach a digital
signature to the document file.

With the surging popularity of mobile phones, virtual fax machines can now be
downloaded as applications for Android and iOS. These applications make use of the
phone's internal camera to scan fax documents for upload or they can import from various
cloud services. [28]
 Sending a Fax with an Online Fax Service

With fax becoming less of a common method of communicating, many people are moving to
an online fax service for their faxing.

An online fax service offers some the same features that a fax machine provides, with the
added benefit of being able to fax online, wherever you have an internet connection.

If you already have an online fax service, then use the following quick guide to sending a fax:

1. Open the program from the online fax service provider that you use

2. Select the file that you want to fax

3. Enter the fax number that you want to send to

4. Press Send.

5. Wait for the document to finish transmitting

6. Send another fax, or close the program

Sending a Fax with a Fax Machine

To send a fax with a fax machine your fax machine will need to be properly configured.

We have put together a full guide on how to use a fax machine to help ensure that your fax
machine is properly configured, as well as certain settings that you may need to consider.

Once your fax is on and configured, then you will be ready to send your fax.

To send a fax with your fax machine:

1. Place the document you want to send in the document feeder. There is usually a small
icon that will show which was is face up for sending your document.

2. Enter the fax number you want to send to, including and extensions to dial externally,
and any international dialing codes

3. Press Send or Go (depending on your fax machine model)

4. Wait for the fax to finish scanning and sending your document

5. Take your confirmation page (if you have the feature enabled)

6. Take your original document with you

Sending a Fax with a Computer

Most computers these days have the ability to double as a fax machine.
 While we primarily the use of an online fax service when using a computer as a fax, some
people still use their computer as a direct replacement for a fax machine that typically sits on
a desk.

We have put together a full guide to enabling and configuring fax services on your computer,
including Windows XP, Vista, and 7, as well as Mac OSX and Linux operating systems.

If you already have a fax service installed on your computer, then usually the process of
sending a fax with a computer goes as follows:

1. Open the program you want to use to fax

2. Select the document that you want to have faxed

3. Prepare a cover page to put on top of that document

4. Select the option to fax

5. Enter the fax number you want to send to

6. Select the option to send.

7. Wait for the document to finish sending

8. Send another fax, or close the program

Skype
Skype (/skap/) is an instant messaging app that provides online text message and video
chat services. Users may transmit both text and video messages, and may exchange digital
documents such as images, text, and video. Skype allows video conference calls.

Skype implements a freemium model. Much of the service is free, but Skype Credit or a
subscription is required to call a landline or a mobile phone number. At the end of 2010, there
were over 660 million worldwide users, with over 300 million estimated active each month as
of August 2015.[11] At one point in February 2012, there were 34 million users concurrently
online on Skype.[12]

First released in August 2003, Skype was created by the Swede Niklas Zennstrm and the
Dane Janus Friis, in cooperation with Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, and Jaan
Tallinn, Estonians who developed the backend that was also used in the music-sharing
application Kazaa. In September 2005, eBay acquired Skype for $2.6 billion.[13]

In September 2009,[14] Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz, and the Canada Pension Plan
Investment Board announced the acquisition of 65% of Skype for $1.9 billion from eBay,
which attributed to the enterprise a market value of $2.92 billion. Microsoft bought Skype in
May 2011 for $8.5 billion. Skype division headquarters are in Luxembourg, but most of the
development team and 44% of all the division's employees are still situated
in Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia.[15][16][17]

Skype allows users to communicate over the Internet by voice using a microphone, by video
using a webcam, and by instant messaging. Skype-to-Skype calls to other users are free of
charge, while calls to landline telephones and mobile phones (over traditional telephone
networks) are charged via a debit-based user account system called Skype Credit. Some
network administrators have banned Skype on corporate, government, home, and education
networks,[18] citing such reasons as inappropriate usage of resources, excessive bandwidth
usage and security concerns.[19]

Skype originally featured a hybrid peer-to-peer and clientserver system.[20] Skype has been
powered entirely by Microsoft-operated supernodes since May 2012.[21]The 2013 mass
surveillance disclosures revealed that Microsoft had granted intelligence agencies unfettered
access to supernodes and Skype communication content.[22]

Throughout 2016 and 2017, Microsoft redesigned its Skype clients in a way that transitioned
Skype from peer-to-peer service to a centralized Azure service and adjusted the user
interfaces of apps to make text-based messaging more prominent than voice calling. Skype
for Windows,[1] iOS,[23], Android[24], Mac[25] and Linux[26] received significant, visible
overhauls.

Etymology[edit]

The name for the software is derived from "Sky peer-to-peer", which was then abbreviated to
"Skyper". However, some of the domain names associated with "Skyper" were already taken.
[27]
Dropping the final "r" left the current title "Skype", for which domain names were
available.[28]

History[edit]

Main article: Skype Technologies

Skype was founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennstrm, from Sweden, and Janus Friis,
from Denmark.[29] The Skype software was created by Estonians Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu,
and Jaan Tallinn. The first public beta version was released on 29 August 2003.[30]

In June 2005, Skype entered into an agreement with the Polish web portal Onet.pl for an
integrated offering on the Polish market.[31] On 12 September 2005, eBay Inc. agreed to
acquire Luxembourg-based Skype Technologies SA for approximately US$2.5 billion in up-
front cash and eBay stock, plus potential performance-based consideration.[32]

On 1 September 2009, it was announced that eBay was selling 65% of Skype to Silver Lake,
Andreessen Horowitz, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for US$1.9 billion,
valuing Skype at US$2.75 billion.

Microsoft acquisition[edit]

On 10 May 2011, Microsoft Corporation acquired Skype Communications, S. r.l for US$8.5
billion.[33] The company was incorporated as a division of Microsoft, which acquired all its
technologies with the purchase. The acquisition was completed on 13 October 2011.[33][34]

Shortly after its acquisition, Microsoft began integrating the Skype service with its own
products. Along with taking over development of existing Skype desktop and mobile apps,
the company developed a dedicated client app for its newly released, touch-focused Windows
8 and Windows RT operating systems. This was made available from Windows Store when
the new OS launched on 26 October 2012. The following year, it became the default
messaging app for Windows 8.1, replacing the Windows 8 Messaging app at the time, and
became pre-installed software on every device that came with or upgraded to 8.1. When the
company introduced Office 2013 on 27 February 2013, it was announced that 60 Skype
world minutes per month would be included in Office 365 consumer plans (Home and
Personal, and University).

Furthermore, Microsoft discontinued two of its own products in favor Skype: In a month-long
transition period from 8 to 30 April 2013, Microsoft phased out its long-standing Windows
Live Messenger instant messaging service in favor of Skype, although Messenger continued
in mainland China.[35][36] On 11 November 2014, Microsoft announced that in 2015, Lync
would be replaced by Skype for Business. The latest version of the communication software
combines features of Lync and the consumer Skype software. There are two user interfaces
organizations can switch their users from the default Skype for Business interface to the Lync
interface.[37]

On September 2016, Microsoft closed the London office, firing 220 people in London and
300 people in Redmond, to focus efforts on developing another Skype client.[38]

Features[edit]

Main article: Features of Skype

Registered users of Skype are identified by a unique Skype Name and may be listed in the
Skype directory.[39] Skype allows these registered users to communicate through both instant
messaging and voice chat. Voice chat allows telephone calls between pairs of users and
conference calling and uses a proprietary audio codec. Skype's text chat client allows group
chats, emoticons, storing chat history, and editing of previous messages. Offline messages
were implemented in a beta of version 5 but removed after a few weeks without notification.
The usual features familiar to instant messaging usersuser profiles, online status indicators,
and so onare also included.

The Online Number, a.k.a. SkypeIn, service allows Skype users to receive calls on their
computers dialed by conventional phone subscribers to a local Skype phone number; local
numbers are available for Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, the
Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India,
Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, South Africa, South Korea,
Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[40]
[41]
A Skype user can have local numbers in any of these countries, with calls to the number
charged at the same rate as calls to fixed lines in the country. The countries on this growing
list are referred to collectively as the SkypeIn Countries.

Skype supports conference calls, video chats, and screen sharing between 25 people at a time
for free.[42][43]

Skype does not provide the ability to call emergency numbers, such as 112 in Europe, 911 in
North America, or 100 in India and Nepal.[44] However, as of December 2012, there is limited
support for emergency calls in the United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, and Finland.[45] The
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ruled that, for the purposes of section
255 of the Telecommunications Act, Skype is not an "interconnected VoIP provider".[46] As a
result, the U.S. National Emergency Number Association recommends that all VoIP users
have an analog line available as a backup.[47]

On 14 July 2011, Skype partnered with Comcast to bring its video chat service to Comcast
subscribers via their HDTV sets.[48]

On 17 June 2013, Skype released a free video messaging service, which can be operated on
Windows, Mac OS, iOS, Android and BlackBerry.[49]

On 12 August 2013, Skype released the 4.10 update to the app for Apple iPhone and iPad that
allows HD quality video for iPhone 5 and fourth-generation iPads.[50]

On 20 November 2014, Microsoft Office's team announced that a new chat powered by
Skype is going to be implemented in their software, giving tools to be able to chat with co-
workers in the same document.[51]

On 15 September 2015, Skype announced the release of Mojis, "a brand new way to express
yourself on Skype." Mojis are short clips/gifs featuring characters from films and TV shows
to be entered into conversations with the same ease as emoticons. They are working
with Universal Studios, Disney Muppets, BBC and other studios to add to the available
collection of Mojis.[52]

On 21 December 2015, Gurdeep Singh Pall, Corporate Vice President of Skype, announced
that Microsoft acquired the technology from Talko, "maker of an innovative mobile app for
on-the-go business communications (...) Together, the new technology and talent will help us
deliver great new features and capabilities in both Skype and Skype for Business."[53]

In January 2016, Skype announced it would roll out free group video calling to users on
mobile devices, including iOS and Android. In February 2016, Microsoft announced that it
had started to introduce group calling on smartphones and tablets in North America and
Western Europe.[54]

In July 2016, Skype introduced an early Alpha version of a new Skype for Linux client, built
with WebRTC technology, after several petitions had asked Microsoft to continue
development for Linux.[55][56]

On 30 September 2016, Skype updated their iOS app with new features, including an option
to call contacts on Skype through Siri voice commands.[57]

On 27 October 2016 Microsoft launched Skype for Business for Mac.[58]

In February 2017, Microsoft announced plans to discontinue its Skype Wi-Fi service globally.
The application will be delisted, and the service itself will no longer function after 31 March
2017.[59][60]

On 5 June 2017, Microsoft announced its plans to revamps Skype to copy Snapchat, allowing
users to share temporary copies of their photos and video files.[61]

In late June 2017 Microsoft rolled out their latest update for iOS, this was not well received
with numerous "1 Star" reviews and complaints that the new client broke existing
functionality.

Usage and traffic[edit]

[show]Usage and traffic

Year International call market share

2005 2.9%[74]

2006 4.4%[74]

2008 8%[73]

2009 12%[72]

2010 13%[75]
 2012 33%[76]

2013 36%[77]

2014 40%[78]

In January 2011, after the release of video calling on the Skype client for iPhone, Skype
reached a record 27 million simultaneous online users.[79] This record was broken with 29
million simultaneous online users on 21 February 2011[80] and again on 28 March 2011 with
30 million online users.[81] On 25 February 2012, Skype announced that it has over 32 million
users for the first time ever.[82] By 5 March 2012, it had 36 million simultaneous online users,
[83]
and less than a year later, on 21 January 2013, Skype had more than 50 million concurrent
users online.[84] In June 2012, Skype had surpassed 70 million downloads on an Android
device.[85]

On 19 July 2012, Microsoft announced that Skype users had logged 115 billion minutes of
calls in the quarter, up 50% since the last quarter.[86]

On 15 January 2014, TeleGeography estimated that Skype-to-Skype international traffic has

gone up to 36% in 2013 to 214 billion minutes.[87]

System and software[edit]

Client applications and devices[edit]

Windows app[edit]

Skype has changed many times on Windows. It has offered a desktop-only app since 2003.
Later, a mobile version was created for Windows Phones. In 2012, Skype introduced a new
version for Windows 8 similar to the Windows Phone version.[88] On 7 July 2015 Skype
modified the app to direct Windows users to download the desktop version of the app, but it
was set to continue working on Windows RT until October 2016.[89] In November 2015,
Skype introduced three new apps, called Messaging, Skype Video, and Phone, intended to
provide an integrated Skype experience in Windows 10.[90][91] On 24 March 2016, Skype
announced the integrated apps did not satisfy most users' needs and announced that they and
the desktop app would eventually be replaced with a new UWP app,[92] which was released as
a preview version for the Windows 10 Anniversary Update and dubbed as the stable version
with the release of the Windows 10 Creators Update.

The latest version of Skype for Windows is Skype 11, which is based on the Universal
Windows Platform and runs on various Windows 10-related systems, including Xbox One,
Windows phones, and Microsoft Hololens. Microsoft still offers the older Skype 7, which is
Win32-based and runs on all systems from Windows XP (which is otherwise unsupported by
Microsoft) to the most recent release of Windows 10.[93]

Other desktop apps[edit]

OS X (10.9[94] or newer)

"Stable" Linux release (Ubuntu and others) (not discontinued, but not updated since
18 June 2014)

WebRTC-based Linux beta release[95]

Other mobile devices[edit]

iOS

Android

BlackBerry 10

Nokia X

Skype was previously available on selected Symbian and BlackBerry OS devices. In May
2009 a Version 3.0 was available on Windows Mobile 5 to 6.1, and in September 2015 a
Version 2.29[96] was available on Windows Phone 8.1; in 2016 Microsoft announced that this
would stop working in early 2017 once Skype's transition from peer-to-peer to client-server is
complete.[97]

Skype phones[edit]

On 29 October 2007, Skype launched its own mobile phone under the brand name 3
Skypephone, which runs a BREW OS.[98]
Skype also offers a Skype Wi-Fi Phone, which is a wireless mobile phone that allows users to
make Skype calls, using a wireless Internet connection. The Skype Wi-Fi Phone has an on-
screen menu that lets Skype users see who is online and available to talk, similar to what is
seen on a PC. It can also be used to talk with non-Skype users. SkypeOut minutes can be used
to call any phone for a low price and no monthly fee. The Skype Wi-Fi phone does not
contain a web browser and so can not access hotspots that require web-based login or
authentication.[99]

Other platforms[edit]

The Nokia N800, N810, and N900 Internet tablets, which run Maemo

The Nokia N9, which runs MeeGo, comes with Skype voice calling and text
messaging integrated; however, it lacks video-calling.

Both the Sony mylo COM-1 and COM-2 models

The PlayStation Portable Slim and Lite series, though the user needs to purchase a
specially designed microphone peripheral. The PSP-3000 has a built-in microphone,
which allows communication without the Skype peripheral.[100] The PSP Go has the
ability to use Bluetooth connections with the Skype application, in addition to its built-in
microphone.[101] Skype for PlayStation Vita may be downloaded via the PlayStation
Network in the U.S. It includes the capability to receive incoming calls with the
application running in the background.

Samsung Smart TV had a Skype app, which could be downloaded for free.[102] It used
the built-in camera and microphone for the newer models. Alternatively, a separate
mountable Skype camera with built-in speakers and microphones is available to purchase
for older models.[103] This functionality has now been disabled along with any other "TV
Based" Skype clients.

Some devices are made to work with Skype by talking to a desktop Skype client or by
embedding Skype software into the device. These are usually either tethered to a PC or
have a built-in Wi-Fi client to allow calling from Wi-Fi hotspots, like
the Netgear SPH101 Skype Wi-Fi Phone, the SMC WSKP100 Skype Wi-Fi Phone,
the Belkin F1PP000GN-SK Wi-Fi Skype Phone, the Panasonic KX-WP1050 Wi-Fi
 Phone for Skype Executive Travel Set, the IPEVO So-20 Wi-Fi Phone for Skype and
the Linksys CIT200 Wi-Fi Phone.

Third party licensing[edit]

Third-party developers, such as Truphone, Nimbuzz, and Fring, previously allowed Skype to
run in parallel with several other competing VoIP/IM networks (Truphone and Nimbuzz
provide TruphoneOut and NimbuzzOut as a competing paid service) in any Symbian or Java
environment. Nimbuzz made Skype available to BlackBerry users and Fring provided mobile
video calling over Skype as well as support for the Android platform. Skype disabled Fring
users from accessing Skype in July 2010.[104] Nimbuzz discontinued support on request of
Skype in October 2010.[105]

Before and during the Microsoft acquisition, Skype withdrew licensing from several third
parties producing software and hardware compatible with Skype. The Skype
for Asterisk product from Digium was withdrawn as "no longer available for sale".
[106]
The Senao SN358+ long-range (1015 km) cordless phone was discontinued due to loss
of licenses to participate in the Skype network as peers. In combination, these two products
made it possible to create roaming cordless mesh networks with a robust handoff.

Protocol[edit]

Main article: Skype protocol

Skype uses a proprietary Internet telephony (VoIP) network called the Skype protocol. The
protocol has not been made publicly available by Skype, and official applications using the
protocol are closed-source. Part of the Skype technology relies on the Global Index P2P
protocol belonging to the Joltid Ltd. corporation. The main difference between Skype and
standard VoIP clients is that Skype operates on a peer-to-peer model (originally based on
the Kazaa software[107]), rather than the more usual clientserver model (note that the very
popular Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) model of VoIP is also peer-to-peer, but
implementation generally requires registration with a server, as does Skype).

On 20 June 2014, Microsoft announced the deprecation of the old Skype protocol. Within
several months from this date, in order to continue using Skype services, Skype users will
have to update to Skype applications released in 2014. The new Skype protocolMicrosoft
Notification Protocol 24. The deprecation became effective in the second week of August
2014. Transferred files are now saved on central servers.
As far as networking stack support is concerned, Skype only supports the IPv4 protocol. It
lacks support for the next-generation Internet protocol, IPv6.[108]

Protocol detection and control[edit]

Many networking and security companies claim to detect and control Skype's protocol for
enterprise and carrier applications. While the specific detection methods used by these
companies are often private, Pearson's chi-squared test and naive Bayes classification are two
approaches that were published in 2008.[109] Combining statistical measurements of payload
properties (such as byte frequencies and initial byte sequences) as well as flow properties
(like packet sizes and packet directions) has also shown to be an effective method for
identifying Skype's TCP- and UDP-based protocols.[110]

Audio codecs[edit]

Skype 2.x used G.729, Skype 3.2 introduced SVOPC, and Skype 4.0 added a Skype-created
codec called SILK, intended to be "lightweight and embeddable".[111] Additionally, Skype has
released Opus as an open-source codec, which integrates the SILK codec principles for voice
transmission with the CELT codec principles for higher-quality audio transmissions, such as
live music performances. Opus was submitted to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
in September 2010.[112] Since then, it has been standardized as RFC 6716[113]

Video codecs[edit]

VP7 is used for versions prior to Skype 5.5.[114][115][116][117][118]

As of version 7.0, H.264 is used for both group and one-on-one video chat, at standard
definition, 720p and 1080p high-definition.[119][120]

Skype Qik[edit]

Main article: Skype Qik

Skype acquired the video service Qik in 2011. After shutting down Qik in April 2014, Skype
relaunched the service as Skype Qik on 14 October 2014. Although Qik offered video
conferencing and Internet streaming, the new service focuses on mobile video messaging
between individuals and groups.[121]

Security and privacy[edit]

Main article: Skype security

Skype was claimed initially to be a secure communication, with one of its early web pages
stating "highly secure with end-to-end encryption".[122] Security services were invisible to the
user, and encryption cannot be disabled. Skype reportedly uses publicly documented, widely
trusted encryption techniques: RSA for key negotiation and the Advanced Encryption
Standard to encrypt conversations.[123] However, it is impossible to verify that these
algorithms are used correctly, completely, and at all times, as there is no public review
possible without a protocol specification and/or the app source code. Skype provides an
uncontrolled registration system for users with no proof of identity. Instead, a free choice of
nicknames permits users to use the system without revealing their identities to other users. It
is trivial to set up an account using any name; the displayed caller's name is no guarantee of
authenticity. A third-party paper analyzing the security and methodology of Skype was
presented at Black Hat Europe 2006. It analyzed Skype and found a number of security issues
with the then-current security model.[124]

PRISM: a clandestine surveillanceprogram under which the NSA collects user data from
companies like Skypeand Facebook.[125]

Skype incorporates some features which tend to hide its traffic, but it is not specifically
designed to thwart traffic analysis and therefore does not provide anonymous communication.
Some researchers have been able to watermark the traffic so that it is identifiable even after
passing through an anonymizing network.[126]

In an interview, Kurt Sauer, the Chief Security Officer of Skype, said, "We provide a safe
communication option. I will not tell you whether we can listen or not."[127] This does not
deny the fact that the NSA monitors Skype conversations. Skype's client uses an
undocumented and proprietary protocol. The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is concerned
about user privacy issues arising from using proprietary software and protocols and has made
a replacement for Skype one of their high-priority projects.[128] Security researchers Biondi
and Desclaux have speculated that Skype may have a back door, since Skype sends traffic
even when it is turned off and because Skype has taken extreme measures to obfuscate their
traffic and functioning of their app.[129] Several media sources reported that at a meeting about
the "Lawful interception of IP based services" held on 25 June 2008, high-ranking unnamed
officials at the Austrian interior ministry said that they could listen in on Skype conversations
without problems. Austrian public broadcasting service ORF, citing minutes from the
meeting, reported that "the Austrian police are able to listen in on Skype connections". Skype
declined to comment on the reports.[130][131] One easily demonstrated method of monitoring is
to set up two computers with the same Skype user ID and password. When a message is
typed or a call is received on one computer, the second computer duplicates the audio and
text. This requires knowledge of the user ID and password.

The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has interpreted

the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) as requiring digital
phone networks to allow wiretapping if authorized by an FBI warrant, in the same way as
other phone services. In February 2009, Skype said that, not being a telephone company
owning phone lines, it is exempt from CALEA and similar laws, which regulate US phone
companies, and in fact, it is not clear whether Skype could support wiretapping even if it
wanted to.[132] According to the ACLU, the Act is inconsistent with the original intent of
the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution;[133] more recently, the ACLU has expressed
the concern that the FCC interpretation of the Act is incorrect.[134][135] It has been suggested
that Microsoft made changes to Skype's infrastructure to ease various wiretapping
requirements;[136] however, Skype denies the claims.[137]

Some time before Skype was sold in 2009, the company had started its own app,
called Project Chess, to explore legal and technical ways to easily share calls with
intelligence agencies and law enforcement.[138]

On 20 February 2009, the European Union's Eurojust agency announced that the Italian Desk
at Eurojust would "play a key role in the coordination and cooperation of the investigations
on the use of internet telephony systems (VoIP), such as 'Skype'. ... The purpose of Eurojust's
coordination role is to overcome the technical and judicial obstacles to the interception of
internet telephony systems, taking into account the various data protection rules and civil
rights"[139]

In November 2010, a flaw was disclosed to Skype that showed how hackers could secretly
track any user's IP address.[140] As of 2015, this has still not been fixed.[141]
In 2012, Skype introduced automatic updates to better protect users from security risks but
received some challenge from users of the Mac product, as the updates cannot be disabled
from version 5.6 on,[142] both on Mac OS and Windows versions, although in the latter, and
only from version 5.9 on, automatic updating can be turned off in certain cases.[143]

According to a 2012 Washington Post article, Skype "has expanded its cooperation with law
enforcement authorities to make online chats and other user information available to police";
the article additionally mentions Skype made changes to allow authorities access to addresses
and credit card numbers.[144]

In November 2012, Skype was reported to have handed over user data of a pro-
Wikileaks activist to Dallas, Texas-based private security company iSIGHT Partners without
a warrant or court order. The alleged handover would be a breach of Skype's privacy policy.
Skype responded with a statement that it launched an internal investigation to probe the
breach of user data privacy.[145]

13 November 2012, a Russian user published a flaw in Skype's security, which allowed any
person to take over a Skype account knowing only the victim's email by following 7 steps.[146]
[147]
This vulnerability was claimed to exist for months and existed for more than 12 hours
since published widely.

14 May 2013, it was documented that a URL sent via a Skype instant messaging session was
usurped by the Skype service and subsequently used in a HTTP HEAD query originating
from an IP address registered to Microsoft in Redmond (the IP address used was
65.52.100.214). The Microsoft query used the full URL supplied in the IM conversation and
was generated by a previously undocumented security service.[148] Security experts speculate
the action was triggered by a technology similar to Microsoft's SmartScreen Filter used in its
browsers.[149]

The 2013 mass surveillance disclosures revealed that agencies such as the NSA and
the FBI have the ability to eavesdrop on Skype, including the monitoring and storage of text
and video calls and file transfers.[22][150][151] The PRISM surveillance program, which
requires FISA court authorization, reportedly has allowed the NSA unfettered access to its
data center supernodes. According to the leaked documents, integration work began in
November 2010, but it was not until February 2011 that the company was served with a
directive to comply signed by the attorney general,[22] with NSA documents showing that
collection began on 31 March 2011.[152]
On 10 November 2014, Skype scored 1 out of 7 points on the Electronic Frontier
Foundation's secure messaging scorecard. Skype received a point for encryption during
transit but lost points because communications are not encrypted with a key the provider
doesn't have access to (i.e. the communications are not end-to-end encrypted), users can't
verify contacts' identities, past messages are not secure if the encryption keys are stolen (i.e.
the service does not provide forward secrecy), the code is not open to independent review
(i.e. the code is not open-source), the security design is not properly documented, and there
has not been a recent independent security audit.[153][154][155] AIM, BlackBerry
Messenger, Ebuddy XMS, Hushmail, Kik Messenger, Viber and Yahoo Messenger also
scored 1 out of 7 points.[153]

Service in the People's Republic of China[edit]

This article's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-

of-date information. Please update this article to reflect recent
events or newly available information. (January 2012)

Since September 2007, users in China trying to download the Skype software client have
been redirected to the site of TOM Online, a joint venture between a Chinese wireless
operator and Skype, from which a modified Chinese version can be downloaded.[156] The
TOM client participates in China's system of Internet censorship, monitoring text messages
between Skype users in China as well as messages exchanged with users outside the country.
[157][158]
Niklas Zennstrm, then chief executive of Skype, told reporters that TOM "had
implemented a text filter, which is what everyone else in that market is doing. Those are the
regulations." He also stated, "One thing that's certain is that those things are in no way
jeopardising the privacy or the security of any of the users."[159]

In October 2008, it was reported that TOM had been saving the full message contents of
some Skype text conversations on its servers, apparently focusing on conversations
containing political issues such as Tibet, Falun Gong, Taiwan independence, and the Chinese
Communist Party. The saved messages contain personally identifiable information about the
message senders and recipients, including IP addresses, usernames, landline phone numbers,
and the entire content of the text messages, including the time and date of each message.
Information about Skype users outside China who were communicating with a TOM-Skype
user was also saved. A server misconfiguration made these log files accessible to the public
for a time.[158][160][161]
Research on the TOM-Skype venture has revealed information about blacklisted keyword
checks, allowing censorship and surveillance of its users. The partnership has received much
criticism for the latter. Microsoft remains unavailable for comment on the issue.[162]

According to reports from the advocacy group Great Fire, Microsoft has modified censorship
restrictions and ensured encryption of all user information.[162] Furthermore, Microsoft is now
partnered with Guangming Founder (GMF) in China.[163]

All attempts to visit the official Skype web page from mainland China redirects to
skype.gmw.cn. The Linux version of Skype is unavailable.

No Skype calls to India landline and mobile[edit]

"As of 10 November 2014, Skype will end support for calling within India meaning calls to
mobiles and landlines from Skype within India will no longer be available," Skype's parent
company Microsoft said in a statement on 8 October 2014. Microsoft said, "Users in India
can still make free Skype-to-Skype calls worldwide, international calls to mobiles and
landlines and users outside the country can call mobiles and landlines in India."[164]

Localization[edit]

Skype comes bundled with the following locales and languages: Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan,
Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian,
Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean,
Latvian, Lithuanian, Nepali, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian and European),
Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian,
and Vietnamese.

As the Windows desktop app offers users the option of creating new language files, at least
80 other (full or partial) localizations are also available for many languages.[165]

URIs[edit]

Skype uses URIs as skype:USER?call for a call.[166]

Customer service[edit]

As of February 2012, Skype provides support through their web support portal, support
community, @skypesupport on Twitter, and Skype Facebook page. Direct contact via email
and live chat is available through their web support portal. Chat Support is a premium feature
available to Skype Premium and some other paid users.

In January 2010, Skype rescinded their policy of seizing funds in Skype accounts that have
been inactive (no paid call) for 180 days. This was in settlement of a class-action lawsuit.
[167]
Skype also paid up to US$4 to persons who opted into the action.

Skype's refund policy states that they will provide refunds in full if customers have used less
than 1 euro of their Skype Credit. "Upon a duly submitted request, Skype will refund you on
a pro rata basis for the unused period of a Product".

Skype has come under some criticism from users for the inability to completely close
accounts. Users not wanting to continue using Skype can make their account inactive by
deleting all personal information, except for the username.[168]

Due to an outage happened on 21 September 2015, that affected several users in New
Zealand, Australia and other countries, Skype decided to compensate their customers with 20
minutes of free calls to over 60 landline and 8 mobile phone numbers.[169]

Educational use[edit]

Although Skype is a commercial product, its free version is used with increasing frequency
among teachers and schools interested in global education projects.[170] For example, Skype is
being used to facilitate language exchange: Students in different parts of the world are paired
off, and each is a native speaker of the language that the other wishes to learn. In
conversations over Skype, they alternate between the two languages.[171][172][173][174]

Teachers are using Skype in unique ways to fulfil educational goals. The video conferencing
aspect of the software is valuable in that it provides a way to connect students who speak
different languages, hold virtual field trips, and reach out to experts in varying fields of study.
These experiences allow students a chance to apply what they are learning in the classroom to
real-life experiences, and it also achieves further learning opportunities.[175][176]

Skype in the classroom is another free tool that Skype has set up on its website. It provides
teachers with a way to make their classrooms more interactive and interesting. Skype in the
classroom is a service that teachers can sign up for that will allow students to meet other
students, talk to experts, and share ideas. Teachers can collaborate with other teachers around
the world and design different learning experiences for their students. There are various
Skype lessons, in which students can participate. Teachers can also use Skype's search tool
and find experts in the field of their choice.[177] Most of the schools in the United States and
Europe often block Skype from the school network for students and hence students have left
no option but to unblock it through various VPNs and proxy.

The nonprofit Paper Airplanes uses Skype to teach English to Syrian students. As of 2017,
320 pairs of students meet once a week using Skype as the platform for communication.[178]

How to Set up and Use Skype

1
Visit the Skype Homepage. If you dont have a Skype account already, click the green
Join button in the middle of the page. This will take you to the account creation screen.

2
Enter your information. You will need to enter your real name and a valid email address.
You will also need to choose the correct Country/Region, and create a Skype username and
password. The username will be displayed publicly; only people on your contact list can see
your real name.
 You can skip this step by logging in with either your Microsoft account or with your
Facebook account. Skype will pull the necessary information from those accounts instead.

3
Download Skype. Skype will automatically detect the operating system you are using and
provide you a download link to the correct version. Click the large green button to begin
downloading.
If you need to download Skype for a different operating system, click the link below
the download button.

4
Install Skype. Once the download is complete, open the file to install Skype. Most users can
keep the recommended settings.
Skype will want to change your homepage settings, so be sure to uncheck those boxes
if you dont want your homepage changed.
If you are using Windows 8, you can install Skype from the Marketplace. This app
acts slightly differently than the desktop version of Skype. To install it, open the Windows 8
Store and search for Skype. Make sure that you install the app published by Skype and
Microsoft.

Using Skype

Open the program. You will be asked to sign in with your Skype username, your Microsoft
account, or your Facebook account, depending on the option you chose during your account
creation. Enter the necessary information and sign in.

Choose a profile picture. Upon starting Skype for the first time, you will be asked to choose
a profile picture. This is an optional step but makes it easier for your contacts to recognize
you.
 Configure your webcam and microphone. During the first time startup, Skype will attempt
to test your webcam and microphone. If they are properly connected to your computer, you
should see an image from your webcam appear in a box. Speak a few words into the
microphone to make sure that it is working properly.

Add contacts. Once Skype is up and running, you will be presented with your profile. Your
list of contacts appears on the left side of the application and is most likely currently empty.
To add contacts, click the + button next to the person icon above the contacts list.
Search by name, email address, or Skype username.
Select the person that you want to add from the results list. This will open their profile
in the right frame of the app. You can send them a text message, call them, or add them to
your contacts. Click the blue link in the text area to add them to your contact list.
Connecting with Other Skype Users
 Start a text chat. You can use Skype to text chat for free with any other Skype user. In order
to do so, they must be on your contact list. Select their name from your contact list and start
typing your message in the chat box.
If the user is not online, your message will be delivered the next time they log in.

Start a voice chat. You can voice chat with any Skype user for free. Select them from the
contact list and then press the green Call button. A notification will appear on their screen
letting them know that you are trying to reach them.
You can only initiate voice calls with users that are online.

Start a video chat. You can video chat with any Skype user for free. Select them from the
contact list and then press the green Video call button. A notification will appear on their
screen letting them know that you are trying to reach them.
You can only initiate video calls with users that are online.

Set up a Skype number. You can purchase a Skype phone number for $5 per month. This
will allow anyone to call you from any phone. This is especially useful if you are traveling in
another country or are moving to a new area.
You can choose the area and country code when you set up your Skype number.
The Skype number acts just like any telephone number.
The caller will receive charges based on standard rates. For example, if the caller lives
in New York, and your Skype number is in London, the caller will be charged standard
international rates.

Call a mobile or landline with Skype. You can use Skype to call any phone number, but you
will need to purchase Skype credits in order to do so. Click the Phone icon above your
contact list to open the phone dialer.
Skype credits can be purchased either through the application, from the Skype
website, or by purchasing Skype cards from retail outlets.
Different calls will have different rates.
LinkedIn

LinkedIn (/likt.n/) is a business- and employment-oriented social networking service that

operates via websites and mobile apps. Founded on December 28, 2002,[6] and launched on
May 5, 2003,[7] it is mainly used for professional networking, including employers posting
jobs and job seekers posting their CVs. As of 2015, most of the company's revenue came
from selling access to information about its members to recruiters and sales professionals.
[8]
As of September 2016, LinkedIn had more than 467 million accounts, out of which more
than 106 million are active.[5] As of April 2017, LinkedIn had 500 million members in 200
countries.[9] LinkedIn allows members (both workers and employers) to create profiles and
"connections" to each other in an online social network which may represent real-
world professional relationships. Members can invite anyone (whether an existing member or
not) to become a connection.[10] The "gated-access approach" (where contact with any
professional requires either an existing relationship or an introduction through a contact of
theirs) is intended to build trust among the service's members. LinkedIn participated in the
EU's International Safe Harbor Privacy Principles.[citation needed]

The site has an Alexa Internet ranking as the 20th most popular website (October 2016).
[4]
According to the New York Times, US high school students are now creating LinkedIn
profiles to include with their college applications. [11] Based in the United States, the site is, as
of 2013, available in 24 languages,
[12]
including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch,
Swedish, Danish, Romanian, Russian, Turkish, Japanese, Czech, Polish, Korean, Indonesian,
Malay, and Tagalog.[13][14] LinkedIn filed for an initial public offering in January 2011 and
traded its first shares on May 19, 2011, under the NYSE symbol "LNKD".[15]

On June 13, 2016, Microsoft announced plans to acquire LinkedIn for $26.2 billion.[16][17] The
acquisition was completed on December 8, 2016.[18] The transaction resulted in the payment
of approximately $26.4 billion in cash merger consideration.[19]
Company overview[edit]

Former LinkedIn headquarters on Stierlin Court in Mountain View, CA

LinkedIn is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in Omaha, Chicago, Los

Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, Sao
Paulo, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Milan, Paris, Munich, Madrid, Stockholm, Singapore, H
ong Kong, China, Japan, Australia, Canada, India and Dubai. In January 2016, the company
had around 9,200 employees.[2]

LinkedIn's CEO is Jeff Weiner,[12] previously a Yahoo! Inc. executive. Founder Reid
Hoffman, previously CEO of LinkedIn, is Chairman of the Board.[12][20] It is funded
by Sequoia Capital, Greylock, Bain Capital Ventures,[21] Bessemer Venture Partners and the
European Founders Fund.[22] LinkedIn reached profitability in March 2006.[23] Through
January 2011, the company had received a total of $103 million of investment.[24]

History[edit]

Founding to 2010[edit]

The company was founded in December 2002 by Reid Hoffman and founding team members
from PayPal and Socialnet.com (Allen Blue, Eric Ly, Jean-Luc Vaillant, Lee Hower,
Konstantin Guericke, Stephen Beitzel, David Eves, Ian McNish, Yan Pujante, Chris
Saccheri).[25] In late 2003, Sequoia Capital led the Series A investment in the company.[26] In
August 2004, LinkedIn reached 1 million users.[27] In March 2006, LinkedIn achieved its first
month of profitability.[27] In April 2007, LinkedIn reached 10 million users.[27] In February
2008, LinkedIn launched a mobile version of the site.[28]

In June 2008, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, and other venture capital firms purchased a
5% stake in the company for $53 million, giving the company a post-money valuation of
approximately $1 billion.[29] In 2010, LinkedIn opened an International Headquarters in
Dublin, Ireland,[30] received a $20 million investment from Tiger Global Management LLC at
a valuation of approximately $2 billion,[31] announced its first acquisition, Mspoke,[32] and
improved its 1% premium subscription ratio.[33] In October of that year, Silicon Valley Insider
ranked the company No. 10 on its Top 100 List of most valuable start ups.[34] By December,
the company was valued at $1.575 billion in private markets.[35]

2011 to present[edit]

LinkedIn Office in Toronto.

LinkedIn filed for an initial public offering in January 2011. The company traded its first
shares on May 19, 2011, under the NYSE symbol "LNKD", at $45 per share. Shares of
LinkedIn rose as much as 171% on their first day of trade on the New York Stock Exchange
and closed at $94.25, more than 109% above IPO price. Shortly after the IPO, the site's
underlying infrastructure was revised to allow accelerated revision-release cycles.[12] In 2011,
LinkedIn earned $154.6 million in advertising revenue alone, surpassing Twitter, which
earned $139.5 million.[36] LinkedIn's fourth-quarter 2011 earnings soared because of the
company's increase in success in the social media world.[37] By this point, LinkedIn had about
2,100 full-time employees compared to the 500 that it had in 2010.[38]

In Q2 2012, LinkedIn leased 57,120 square feet on three floors of the One Montgomery
Tower building in the Financial District of San Francisco, which was expanded to 135,000
square feet by 2014.[39][40] In May 2012, LinkedIn announced that its Q1 2012 revenues were
up to $188.5 million compared to $93.9 million in Q1 2011. Net income increased 140% over
Q1 2011 to $5 million. Revenue for Q2 was estimated to be between $210 to $215 million.
[41]
In November 2012, LinkedIn released its third quarter earnings, reporting earnings-per-
share of $0.22 on revenue of $252 million. As a result of these numbers,
LinkedIn's stock increased to roughly $112 a share.[42]

In April 2014, LinkedIn announced that it had leased 222 Second Street, a 26-story building
under construction in San Francisco's SoMa district, to accommodate up to 2,500 of its
employees,[40] with the lease covering 10 years.[2] The goal was to join all San Francisco-
based staff (1,250 as of January 2016) in one building, bringing sales
and marketingemployees together with the research and development team.[2] They started to
move in in March 2016.[2] In February 2016, following an earnings report, LinkedIn's shares
dropped 43.6% within a single day, down to $108.38 per share. LinkedIn lost $10 billion of
its market capitalization that day.[43][44]

On June 13, 2016, Microsoft announced that it would acquire LinkedIn for $196 a share, a
total value of $26.2 billion and the largest acquisition made by Microsoft to date. The
acquisition would be an all-cash, debt-financed transaction. Microsoft would allow LinkedIn
to "retain its distinct brand, culture and independence", with Weiner to remain as CEO, who
would then report to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Analysts believed Microsoft saw the
opportunity to integrate LinkedIn with its Office product suite to help better integrate the
professional network system with its products. The deal was completed on December 8,
2016.[17]

In late 2016, LinkedIn announced a planned increase of 200 new positions in its Dublin
office, which would bring the total employee count to 1,200.[45]

Acquisitions[edit]

In July 2012, LinkedIn acquired 15 key Digg patents for $4 million including a "click a
button to vote up a story" patent.[46]

Lawsuit[edit]

In 2013, a class action lawsuit entitled Perkins vs. LinkedIn Corp was filed against the
company, accusing it of automatically sending invitations to contacts in a member's email
address book without permission. The court agreed with LinkedIn that permission had in fact
been given for invitations to be sent, but not for the two further reminder emails.[68] LinkedIn
settled the lawsuit in 2015 for $13 million.[69] Many members should have received a notice
in their email with the subject line "Legal Notice of Settlement of Class Action". The Case
No. is 13-CV-04303-LHK .[70]
Membership[edit]

Social media websites can also use "traditional" marketing approaches, as seen in these
LinkedIn-branded chocolates.

As of 2015, LinkedIn had more than 400 million members in over 200 countries and
territories.[12][71] It is significantly ahead of its competitors Viadeo (50 million as of 2013)
[72]
and XING (11 million as of 2016).[73] In 2011, its membership grew by approximately two
new members every second.[74]

User profile network[edit]

The basic functionality of LinkedIn allows users (workers and employers) to create profiles,
which for employees typically consist of a curriculum vitae describing their work experience,
education and training, skills, and a personal photo. The site also enables members to make
"connections" to each other in an online social network which may represent real-
world professional relationships. Members can invite anyone (whether a site member or not)
to become a connection. However, if the invitee selects "I don't know" or "Spam", this counts
against the inviter. If the inviter gets too many of such responses, the member's account may
be restricted or closed.[10]

A member's list of connections can then be used in a number of ways:

Users can obtain introductions to the connections of connections (termed second-

degree connections) and connections of second-degree connections (termed third-degree
connections)

Users can search for second-degree connections who work at a specific company they
are interested in, and then ask a specific first-degree connection in common for an
introduction[75]
 Users can find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended by someone in
one's contact network.

Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates.

Job seekers can review the profile of hiring managers and discover which of their
existing contacts can introduce them.

Users can post their own photos and view photos of others to aid in identification.

Users can follow different companies.

Users can save (i.e. bookmark) jobs that they would like to apply for.

Users can "like" and "congratulate" each other's updates and new employments.

Users can wish each other a happy birthday.

Users can see who has visited their profile page.

The "gated-access approach" (where contact with any professional requires either an existing
relationship, or the intervention of a contact of theirs) is intended to build trust among the
service's users. LinkedIn participated in the EU's International Safe Harbor Privacy
Principles.[citation needed]

Security and technology[edit]

In June 2012, cryptographic hashes of approximately 6.4 million LinkedIn

user passwords were stolen by hackers who then published the stolen hashes online.[76] This
action is known as the 2012 LinkedIn hack. In response to the incident, LinkedIn asked its
users to change their passwords. Security experts criticized LinkedIn for not salting their
password file and for using a single iteration of SHA-1.[77] On May 31, 2013 LinkedIn
added two-factor authentication, an important security enhancement for preventing hackers
from gaining access to accounts.[78] In May 2016, 117 million LinkedIn usernames and
passwords were offered for sale online for the equivalent of $2,200.[79] These account details
are believed to be sourced from the original 2012 LinkedIn hack, in which the number of user
IDs stolen had been underestimated. To handle the large volume of emails sent to its users
every day with notifications for messages, profile views, important happenings in their
network, and other things, LinkedIn uses the Momentum email platform from Message
Systems.[80]

Applications[edit]

LinkedIn 'applications' often refers to external third party applications that interact with
LinkedIn's developer API. However, in some cases it could refer to sanctioned applications
featured on a user's profile page.

External, third party applications[edit]

On February 12, 2015 LinkedIn released an updated terms of use for their developer API.
[81]
The developer API allows both companies and individuals the ability to interact with
LinkedIn's data through creation of managed third party applications. Applications must go
through a review process and request permission from the user before accessing a user's data.

Normal use of the API is outlined in LinkedIn's developer documents, including:

Sign into external services using LinkedIn

Add items or attributes to a user profile

Share items or articles to user's timeline

On a more rare occasion, applications have been developed by third parties to extend
LinkedIn's native functions. For instance, LinkedIn does not allow users to define images that
correlate with articles or links they share, but this can be done using a third party application
like LinkedIn Advanced Share.

Embedded in profile[edit]

In October 2008, LinkedIn enabled an "applications platform" which allows external online
services to be embedded within a member's profile page. Among the initial applications were
an Amazon Reading List that allows LinkedIn members to display books they are reading, a
connection to Tripit, and a Six Apart, WordPress and TypePad application that allows
members to display their latest blog postings within their LinkedIn profile.[82] In November
2010, LinkedIn allowed businesses to list products and services on company profile pages; it
also permitted LinkedIn members to "recommend" products and services and write reviews.
[83]
Shortly after, some of the external services were no longer supported, including Amazon's
Reading List [84]

Mobile[edit]

A mobile version of the site was launched in February 2008, which gives access to a reduced
feature set over a mobile phone. The mobile service is available in six languages: Chinese,
English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.[85] In January 2011, LinkedIn acquired
CardMunch, a mobile app maker that scans business cards and converts into contacts.[86] In
June 2013, CardMunch was noted as an available LinkedIn app.[12] In August 2011, LinkedIn
revamped its mobile applications on the iPhone, Android and HTML5. At the time, mobile
page views of the application were increasing roughly 400% year over year according to
CEO Jeff Weiner.[87] In October 2013, LinkedIn announced a service for iPhone users called
"Intro", which inserts a thumbnail of a person's LinkedIn profile in correspondence with that
person when reading mail messages in the native iOS Mail program.[88] This is accomplished
by re-routing all emails from and to the iPhone through LinkedIn servers, which security firm
Bishop Fox asserts has serious privacy implications, violates many organizations' security
policies, and resembles a man-in-the-middle attack.[89][90]

Groups[edit]

LinkedIn also supports the formation of interest groups, and as of March 29, 2012 there are
1,248,019 such groups whose membership varies from 1 to 744,662.[91][92] The majority of the
largest groups are employment related, although a very wide range of topics are covered
mainly around professional and career issues, and there are currently[when?] 128,000 groups for
both academic and corporate alumni.[citation needed] Groups support a limited form of discussion
area, moderated by the group owners and managers.[93] Since groups offer the functionality to
reach a wide audience without so easily falling foul of anti-spam solutions, there is a constant
stream of spam postings, and there now exist a range of firms who offer a spamming service
for this very purpose. LinkedIn has devised a few mechanisms to reduce the volume of spam,
[94]
but recently[when?]took the decision to remove the ability of group owners to inspect the
email address of new members in order to determine if they were spammers.[citation
needed]
Groups also keep their members informed through emails with updates to the group,
including most talked about discussions within your professional circles.[91][95] Groups may be
private, accessible to members only or may be open to Internet users in general to read,
though they must join in order to post messages.
In December 2011, LinkedIn announced that they are rolling out polls to groups.[96] In
November 2013, LinkedIn announced the addition of Showcase Pages to the platform.[97] In
2014, LinkedIn announced they were going to be removing Product and Services
Pages[98] paving the way for a greater focus on Showcase Pages.[99]

Job listings[edit]

LinkedIn allows users to research companies, non-profit organizations, and governments they
may be interested in working for. Typing the name of a company or organization in the search
box causes pop-up data about the company or organization to appear. Such data may include
the ratio of female to male employees, the percentage of the most common titles/positions
held within the company, the location of the company's headquarters and offices, and a list of
present and former employees. In July 2011, LinkedIn launched a new feature allowing
companies to include an "Apply with LinkedIn" button on job listing pages.[100] The new
plugin allowed potential employees to apply for positions using their LinkedIn profiles as
resumes.[100]

Online recruiting[edit]

Job recruiters, head hunters, and personnel HR are increasingly using LinkedIn as a source
for finding potential candidates. By using the Advanced search tools, recruiters can find
members matching their specific key words with a click of a button. They then can make
contact with those members by sending a request to connect or by sending InMail about a
specific job opportunity he or she may have. Recruiters also often join industry based groups
on LinkedIn to create connections with professionals in that line of business.[101]

Skills[edit]

Since September 2012, LinkedIn has enabled users to "endorse" each other's skills. This
feature also allows users to efficiently provide commentary on other users' profiles network
building is reinforced. However, there is no way of flagging anything other than positive
content.[102] LinkedIn solicits endorsements using algorithms that generate skills members
might have. Members cannot opt out of such solicitations, with the result that it sometimes
appears that a member is soliciting an endorsement for a non-existent skill.[103]
Publishing platform[edit]

LinkedIn continues to add different services to its platform to expand the ways that people
use it. On May 7, 2015, LinkedIn added an analytics tool to its publishing platform. The tool
allows authors to better track traffic that their posts receive.[104]

Influencers[edit]

The LinkedIn Influencers program launched in October 2012 and features global thought
leaders who share their professional insights with LinkedIn's members. As of May 2016,
there are 750+ Influencers, approximately 74% of which are male.[105] The program is invite-
only and features leaders from a range of industries including Richard Branson, Narendra
Modi, Arianna Huffington, Greg McKeown, Rahm Emanuel, Jamie Dimon, Martha
Stewart, Deepak Chopra, Jack Welch, and Bill Gates.[106][107]

Advertising and for-pay research[edit]

In mid-2008, LinkedIn launched LinkedIn DirectAds as a form of sponsored advertising.

[108]
In October 2008, LinkedIn revealed plans to open its social network of 30 million
professionals globally as a potential sample for business-to-business research. It is testing a
potential social network revenue model - research that to some appears more promising than
advertising.[109] On July 23, 2013, LinkedIn announced their Sponsored Updates ad service.
Individuals and companies can now pay a fee to have LinkedIn sponsor their content and
spread it to their user base. This is a common way for social media sites such as LinkedIn to
generate revenue.[110]

Future plans[edit]

Economic graph[edit]

Inspired by Facebook's "social graph", LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner set a goal in 2012 to create
an "economic graph" within a decade.[111] The goal is to create a comprehensive digital map
of the world economy and the connections within it.[112] The economic graph was to be built
on the company's current platform with data nodes including companies, jobs, skills,
volunteer opportunities, educational institutions, and content.[113][114][115]They have been hoping
to include all the job listings in the world, all the skills required to get those jobs, all the
professionals who could fill them, and all the companies (nonprofit and for-profit) at which
they work.[113] The ultimate goal is to make the world economy and job market more efficient
through increased transparency.[111] In June 2014, the company announced its "Galene" search
architecture to give users access to the economic graph's data with more thorough filtering of
data, via user searches like "Engineers with Hadoop experience in Brazil."[116][117]

LinkedIn has used economic graph data to research several topics on the job market,
including popular destination cities of recent college graduates,[118] areas with high
concentrations of technology skills,[119] and common career transitions.[120] LinkedIn provided
the City of New York with data from economic graph showing "in-demand" tech skills for the
city's "Tech Talent Pipeline" project.[121]

New user interface in 2017[edit]

Soon after LinkedIn's acquisition by Microsoft, on January 19, 2017, LinkedIn's new desktop
version was introduced.[122] The new version was meant to make the user experience seamless
across mobile and desktop. Some of the changes were made according to the feedback
received from the previously launched mobile app. Features that were not heavily used were
removed. For example, the contact tagging and filtering features are not supported any more.
[123]

Users' reaction[edit]

Following the launch of the new interface, some users, including blogger Zubair Abbas,
complained about missing features which were there in the older version, slowness and bugs
in the UI.[124] The issues were faced by both free and premium users, and with both the
desktop version and the mobile version of the site.

Dropped features in 2013[edit]

In January 2013, LinkedIn dropped support for LinkedIn Answers, and cited a new 'focus on
development of new and more engaging ways to share and discuss professional topics across
LinkedIn' as the reason for the retirement of the feature. The feature had been launched in
2007, and allowed users to post question to their network and allowed users to rank answers.
[125]

Business units[edit]

LinkedIn derives its revenues from four business divisions:[126]

 Talent Solutions, through which recruiters and corporations pay for branded
corporation and career listing pages, pay-per-click targeted job ads, and access to the
LinkedIn database of users and resumes

Marketing Solutions, which advertisers pay for pay per click-through targeted ads

Premium Subscriptions, through which LinkedIn users can pay for advanced services,
such as LinkedIn Business, LinkedIn Talent (for recruiters), LinkedIn JobSeeker, and
LinkedIn Sales for sales professions

Learning Solutions, through which users can learn various skills related to their job
function or personal learning goals, on the Lynda.com or LinkedIn Learning platforms

Some elements of the various subscription services are also on a pay per use basis like
InMail[definition needed].

Reception[edit]

LinkedIn has been described by online trade publication TechRepublic as having "become the
de facto tool for professional networking".[127] LinkedIn has also been praised for its
usefulness in fostering business relationships.[128] "LinkedIn is, far and away, the most
advantageous social networking tool available to job seekers and business professionals
today," according to Forbes.[129] LinkedIn has also received criticism, primarily regarding e-
mail address mining and auto-update.

The sign-up process includes a step for entering your email password (there is an opt-
out feature). LinkedIn will then offer to send out contact invitations to all members in
your address book or that you have had email conversation with. When the member's
email address book is opened it is opened with all email addresses selected and the
member is advised invitations will be sent to "selected" email addresses, or to all. Up to
1,500 invitations can then be sent out in one click, with no possibility to undo or
withdraw them. LinkedIn was sued for sending out another two follow-up invitations to
each contact from members to link to friends who had ignored the initial, authorized,
invitation. In November 2014, LinkedIn lost a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, in a ruling
that the invitations were advertisements not broadly protected by free speech rights that
 would otherwise permit use of people's names and images without authorization.[130][131]
[132][133]
The lawsuit was eventually settled in 2015 in favor of LinkedIn members.[69]

Changing the description below a member's name is seen as a change in a job title,
even if it is just a wording change or even a change to "unemployed". Unless a member
opts to "turn off activity updates", an update is sent to all of that person's contacts, telling
them to congratulate the member on the "new job".[134]

The feature that allows LinkedIn members to "endorse" each other's skills and
experience has been criticized as meaningless, since the endorsements are not necessarily
accurate or given by people who have familiarity with the member's skills.[135] In October
2016, LinkedIn acknowledged that it "really does matter who endorsed you" and began
highlighting endorsements from "coworkers and other mutual connections" to address the
criticism.[136]

In 2014, the Catalan language advocacy organization Fundaci puntCat launched an

online campaign asking LinkedIn to support the language both in the platform's interface
and as CV language; it gained more than 3000 online signatures.[137] In 2016, Plataforma
per la Llengua started another campaign asking for such a change.[138]

LinkedIn has inspired the creation of specialised professional networking

opportunities, such as co-founder Eddie Lou's Chicago startup, Shiftgig (released in 2012
as a platform for hourly workers).[139]

International restrictions[edit]

In 2009, Syrian users reported that LinkedIn server stopped accepting connections originating
from IP addresses assigned to Syria. The company's customer support stated that services
provided by them are subject to US export and re-export control laws and regulations and "As
such, and as a matter of corporate policy, we do not allow member accounts or access to our
site from Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, or Syria."[140]

In February 2011, it was reported that LinkedIn was being blocked in China after calls for a
"Jasmine Revolution". It was speculated to have been blocked because it is an easy way for
dissidents to access Twitter, which had been blocked previously.[141] After a day of being
blocked, LinkedIn access was restored in China.[142]
In February 2014, LinkedIn launched its Simplified Chinese language version named ""
(pinyin: Lngyng; literally: "leading elite"), officially extending their service in China.[143]
[144]
LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner acknowledged in a blog post that they would have to censor
some of the content that users post on its website in order to comply with Chinese rules, but
he also said the benefits of providing its online service to people in China outweighed those
concerns.[143][145]

On 4 August 2016, a Moscow court ruled that LinkedIn must be blocked in Russia for
violating a new data retention law, which requires the user data of Russian citizens to be
stored on servers within the country. This ban was upheld on 10 November 2016, and all
Russian ISPs began blocking LinkedIn thereafter. LinkedIn's mobile app was also banned
from Google Play Store and iOS App Store in Russia in January 2017.[146][147]

SNA LinkedIn[edit]

The Search, Network, and Analytics (SNA) team at LinkedIn has a website[148] that hosts
the open source projects built by the group. Notable among these projects is Project
Voldemort,[149] a distributed key-value structured storage system with low-latency similar in
purpose to Amazon.com's Dynamo and Google's BigTable.

Surveillance and NSA program[edit]

In the 2013 global surveillance disclosures, documents released by Edward

Snowden revealed that British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) (an
intelligence and security organisation) infiltrated the Belgian telecommunications
network Belgacom by luring employees to a false LinkedIn page.[150]
Methods of Using LinkedIn

Most B2B marketers have a list of potential buyers at specific companies that they would like
to reach. It can be very difficult to selectively target this audience via PPC Search ads or
banner campaigns. Even behavioral targeting has its limitations.

Your next move LinkedIn Ads: https://www.linkedin.com/ads/

LinkedIn Ads is an offering from the popular professional networking site that provides many
targeting options and cost-effective innovative ways to reach your audience.

Campaigns can be created to target a specific message, product, general brand, promote a
web conference or anything you want to make sure your audience is aware of.
Heres a look at how you can use specific targeting options to make your LinkedIn Ads
campaign work for you.

Step 1: Create Your Ad

This process is similar to other ad networks we all use to promote brands, products and
offerings. Make sure the messaging in line with what you want your audience to dobuy a
product, sign up for a conference, add a new service offering or just plain remember your
brand. Dont forget to include your companys logo. Brand awareness is key and helpful.

As you can see in the image above, ads can be simple text or include an image. The headline
allows for 25 characters and the body text can span two lines with a total of 75 characters.

Step 2: Determine Audience Targeting

This is where the real value of LinkedIn Ads is very granular audience targeting! Here is a
summary of the six main ways B2B marketers can target business buyers.

Geo-Targeting

Pick your continent, pick your country, pick your state, region, pick your metro. You can
target your audience right down to their exact location. While this is similar to many ad
networks just wait and see what else you can do

Industry Targeting
Targets can be selected based on the industry they serve. You can reach those in agriculture,
arts, construction, education, government to list a few.

There are even more specific categories within those broad industry categories. Be mindful
that you can only select up to 10 industries. If you need to reach more industries, I
recommend that you create separate campaigns. This approach also allows you to offer more
relevant ads.

Company Targeting

You can select your audience based on the company they work for (or have worked). Do you
have a list of leads that you want to notify about your latest product offering or conference?
Create a campaign and remind them they need to sign up or update their product.

Selecting companies by their size is also available so if you need to reach small business you
can opt-out of companies that may be too big for your offering.

Role/Title Targeting

Only need marketing managers? Skip the C Level and go straight to the Marketing
department. Know the exact job function you want to reach? Simply enter the specific job
titles.

Targeting the right people has never been easier. This feature is great if, for example, you are
trying to increase registrations for a conference that would be helpful to Fortune 500
Marketing teams.

Group Targeting

Are you trying to reach a certain group of people not necessarily based on their company or
job function, but rather groups they are members of yeah you can do that too. For instance,
B2B marketers may want to reach members of organizations relevant to a certain industry.

One example: targeting a CPA group because your business offers software for financial
auditing.
Demographic Targeting

Finally, do you only want to find women or individuals in their 30syou can reach them
through LinkedIns targeting offerings. All you have to do is opt in.

Step 3: Optional ReTargeting

You can keep your ads running outside of the LinkedIn platform by opting in to the LinkedIn
Network which allows you to follow that Marketing Manager that you are targeting if they
visit any site in the Network. This option is similar to PPC search retargeting across
various content/display networks.

Target Your Business Buyer

For B2B Marketers reaching your exact audience has never been easier. Setting-up a
LinkedIn Ads campaign is at your fingertips. And remember, this isnt about driving the
biggest click-thru-rate this is about reminding prospects of your business, product, or
upcoming conference. This is about awareness.

If I remember anything from my advertising studies at Penn State its frequency, frequency,
frequencyand LinkedIn Ads offers this in an affordable, highly-targeted format.

Facebook is a social networking site that is enormously popular, but it can be a frustrating
user experience. The design of Facebook leaves a lot to be desired and there are almost too
manychoices for things to do on Facebook. Also some of the more popular Facebook
activities are trivial instead of useful throwing sheep is an oft-quoted example.
Having said that, theres no doubt that Facebook is a powerful social networking tool. So how
can you best utilize it and find the good apps? In this post we aim to find out. Well be
focusing specifically on social activities, rather than the many other potential uses of
Facebook (work, brand management, etc).

Tip 1: Update Your Status Regularly

This is a simple thing to do to keep your Facebook profile active. Right at the top of the page
there is a place where you can write something. Usually a comment about what youre
doing or thinking. Once a day, or even once every few days, is enough. But update it enough
to keep your page interesting.

Tip 2. Use Groups (a.k.a. Lists in Facebook Terminology)

Groups are a core feature of social networking on the Web. To effectively use Facebook, we
recommend you set up some groups so that you can filter content. One person who does this
very well is our own Marshall Kirkpatrick. Marshall says that he generally scans his
Facebook homepage first, then clicks to his groups for family and old friends from school. He
noted that this way most of my time spent on Facebook isnt re-reading the same things Ive
already read on Twitter.
There is a bit of a trick to setting this groups feature up. Facebook calls this feature lists,
probably to differentiate them from its other Groups feature (which have been usurped by
Pages now). Confused? Get used to it, Facebook navigation is awful.

To set lists up for your Facebook account, go to your Facebook homepage and click the
more link on the left-hand sidebar. You will see a link entitled Create new list at the
bottom click on that to create a new group.

Tip 3: Add Your Content From Other Sources (Carefully)

In this day and age, you are likely creating content in more than a few places on the Web.
This ranges from the extreme cases (early adopters who have personal RSS feeds coming out
their ears), to those who may just use YouTube and a couple of other niche social websites.

Many early adopters use FriendFeed to aggregate their lifestream of content from multiple
sources. Facebook just bought FriendFeed, so expect to see it integrated into Facebook over
time. As of now, if you have more than a few content sources and they arent necessarily the
well-known ones like YouTube or Last.fm, then youll need to use FriendFeed or an
equivalent lifestreaming product to aggregate those feeds. But if you find FriendFeed just a
bit too geeky (and many people do), then you can adequately enrich your Facebook profile
with external content.

One thing wed caution, which this author took too long to notice: dont pipe your
FriendFeed content into Facebook if you aggregate a lot of content into FriendFeed! It
quickly overpowers your Wall and will likely annoy the friends you have who also subscribe
to your FriendFeed.
To add external content to Facebook, on your Wall page click the Options link on the top
right. Then click Settings.

You can then choose to import stories to your Facebook wall from a select number of sites:
Flickr, Digg, YouTube and others.

You can add content from other external sources to Facebook by clicking the application
settings page link further down the page.

Tip 4: Brighten Up Your Profile With Photos and Videos

This almost goes without saying, but adding multimedia makes your Facebook profile
interesting and attractive.

If instead of Facebook you usually use a specialist photo site (like Flickr) or video site (like
Vimeo), then youll need to search around for ways to export your files. I use Flickr and
didnt find a satisfactory way to export photos from Flickr to Facebooks Photo albums. But
via my Twitter network I managed to discovered a plug-in for iPhoto, which allows Mac
users to bulk export from iPhoto to Facebook.

Tip 5: Search Out the Best Facebook Apps

Ever since Facebook became a development platform back in May 2007, thousands of
apps have been built to add to your Facebook page. As1 noted in the introduction, these range
from trivial (e.g. sheep throwing) to very useful. The best tip here is to find apps that
complement your interests.

Our advice is to search the directory for keywords of interest to you. The quality of apps
varies greatly and often there are errors (at least I came across them several times when
researching this article). When you find an app you like, you can add it to your profile. I
added an Art app recently, for example.

You can browse a users apps by clicking the oddly-named Boxes tab on their profile page.
 Use Tumblr
Tumblr is a microblogging service that has recently become
one of the foremost social media sites on the Internet. If
you're interested in learning how to use Tumblr but you don't
know where to begin, simply follow the steps outlined in this
article and you'll soon be on the fast track to being Tumblr
famous.

Go to Tumblr to sign up for an account. You will need to

choose a username, which will act as your display name on
the Tumblr dashboard, as well as part of the URL of your blog
("yourusername" dot tumblr dot com). Your username is not
permanent, however; you may change it at any time by going
to your blog settings.

Get to know the seven different types of posts. These types

are varied to allow your best approaches to be put forward;
you may even like to try each style over time. The seven
types of posts are as follows:
Text. A text post consists of plain text. Images,
hyperlinks, videos, and some HTML-based widgets can be
added. The raw HTML of the post can be edited.
Photo. A photo post consists of a single image
accompanied by a brief description. Photos can be uploaded
from your PC, or you can use the URL of an image already on
the web.
Quote. A quote post consists of title text (the quote)
and a single line of body text (citing the origin of the quote).
 Link. A link post consists entirely of a single piece of
descriptive text, which is linked to the website or webpage
being described.
Chat. A chat post is used to share a snippet of
conversation.
Audio. An audio post consists of a single .mp3 file (be it
a music track, podcast, etc.), which can be played via a
Flash music player. Only one audio post is permitted daily.
Video. A video post consists of an embedded video,
which can be uploaded from your PC or imported from
websites such as YouTube or Vimeo.

Follow people and get your own followers. Followers are

fellow Tumblr users who subscribe to your blog. Whatever
you post will appear on their dashboard. When you follow
other Tumblr users, their posts will then appear
on your dashboard. If a person you don't want following you
does so, you can block them. The more followers you get, the
more chance you have of getting your posts reblogged and
liked.

Like and reblog. If someone likes your post so much that

they want to share it, they can reblog it. If someone reblogs
one of your posts, their followers will see it on their
dashboards. If someone doesn't want to reblog your post,
they can 'like' your post. You can reblog and like the posts of
 others. All posts are rated with the "notes" they get. With
each 'reblog' and 'like,' the posts increment one note.

1. Understand messages. If you allow access to your Ask

box, you can receive questions from anyone who uses
Tumblr, as well as anonymous visitors. Your answers to these
questions will be posted to your blog, for all of your followers
and visitors to see. You can also send fan mail, which is
similar to asking or submitting something to someone, but
more focused on giving positive comments to another
person about their blog.
2.

Queuing and drafts. If you wish to publish a string of posts

while you're offline, you can add the posts to your queue and
choose at which intervals of time they'll be published (for
example, every 15 minutes). Alternatively, you can appoint a
certain time at which the posts are published, including date
and time. These features are helpful if you're going on
holiday and still want to blog, but won't have an Internet
connection during your vacation. Drafts, meanwhile, allow
you to save a post online; you can then finish the post when
you next log onto Tumblr and publish it whenever you wish.

Customize your Tumblr. The Customize page gives you

access to all of the under-the-hood settings for your blog and
is split into several sections.
 Info. Choose the title of your blog, alter the sidebar
description, select an avatar image, and change your
username/URL.
Theme. Select from a range of pre-made themes for
your blog. Alternatively, create your own HTML code, to
completely personalize your blog.
Appearance. Change your background/header image,
tagline, etc. Some themes allow room for advanced features
like a list of your favorite posts or who you're following.
Pages. Add/delete/edit web pages on your blog. Creating
an About page or an FAQ page is common practice among
Tumblr users.
Services. Use this pane to hook your blog up to other
websites like Facebook and Twitter.
Community. Change privacy settings for your Ask
box and set up a user submissions page.
Advanced. This is where you'll find any other options,
including time zone selection, custom CSS, and how many
posts you wish to display per page on your blog.
Post your own original content. To optimize the quality of
your posts, ensure that text is well-written, images are
relevant, and you keep to the theme of your blog, if you have
one. The most popular Tumblr users are those who dedicate
their blogs to a certain purpose. Add relevant tags to your
posts, so that users searching for a certain topic are more
likely to stumble upon your blog. It's also a good idea to cite
the sources of things you did not write/create, or you'll be
accused of plagiarizing. To protect yourself from plagiarism,
type the URL of your own blog in the 'Source' box on the
sidebar of the post composition page. Ensure that your
material is interesting, and post at least once a day, or your
followers will get bored with your inactivity and may even
unfollow you.

How To Use Twitter Tools

And Twitter Best Practices
For Business
For years I have wondered what the value of Twitter is for
sales and business. Everyone knows the indisputable
value of LinkedIn for B2B sales, marketing, B2B
prospecting, and entrepreneurs in general. But Twitter is
finally gaining traction in B2B.
This article shares some of the latest Twitter strategies,
tactics, tools, and best practices.
Darren Rowse of ProBlogger has a really cool ebook
called 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. It it gives you 1 thing
to do per day on your blog for an entire month. It is for
those who never quite get around to it because they are so
busy.
Think of this article as "31 Days to Using Twitter to Build
Your Business."
GETTING STARTED
1. Decide your purpose. Why are you using Twitter?
Some Twitter users utilize the social media site to build
their company brand or generate leads. There are bloggers
who use the platform to share ideas and articles and to see
what others are writing about. Some people check Twitter
for news, while others want to see what celebrities or
friends are up to.
Defining your purpose will help you decide who to follow
and what kind of information to share.
2. Focus on your passion. There are millions of
Twitter users tweeting thousands of pieces of information
every second. It is easy to get overwhelmed by and lost in
the noise. Rather than trying to soak it all in and
repurpose everything, focus on your passion.
Dont be a jack of all Twitter subjects and a master of
none. Tweets surrounding your passion are going to be
stronger. Plus, you will attract users who have similar
interests. If you dont focus, you will attract meaningless
followers, if any at all.
3. Define your brand. Once you have zeroed in on
your purpose and passion, decide how you want the
Twitter world to view you.
Do you want to specialize in one subject to attract a
targeted audience? Or do you want to be more general,
tweeting about numerous topics? Do you want your tweets
to be funny and casual or very professional? Is your goal
to be a thought leader or celebrity? This will give you
direction on who to follow and what to tweet.
4. Determine your strategy. Is your strategy
to communicate?
If your goal is to influence, promote or sell, your strategy
should be communication based. You are going to want to
attract attention. To attract attention, you are going to
need to tweet, direct message, engage with other users
and focus on getting information out in the Twitter world.
Is it to listen?
If you are using Twitter to keep up on news, learn, provide
customer service or perform market analysis, your
strategy should be to listen. You are going to want to
decide who will provide the content youre interested in
and follow them. You will also want to learn how to utilize
filtering tools, including hashtags and Twitter lists.
5. Learn how to use Twitter. Reading this article and
articles like it is a good first step. However, to really learn
how to utilize Twitter, youre going to need to get your
hands a little dirty and roll up your sleeves.
1. Go to Twitter.com, and create a free account.
2. Learn Twitter terminology. When you post
something, its a tweet. When you repost
something from another user, its a retweet or
RT. Trending topics, or TT, are topics discussed
by many users at a given time. You can Favorite
a tweet by clicking on the star. That is a great
way to recognize someone for sharing your
content.
3. Explore. See who is on Twitter and what people
are tweeting.
4. Engage. Follow the guidelines in this article and
become an active user.
6. Grab your name, brand or
persona. (@KenKrogue)
When you are signing up, you will need to decide your
Twitter name, which is how people will tag you in tweets
and ultimately how you will be known on Twitter. Mine is
my name, @KenKrogue. If you can't get your own name,
add your passion or function like @KenKrogueSells or
something. My company address is @InsideSales. Choose
something that fits you or your business.

Twitter
Twitter (/twtr/) is an online news and social networking service where users post and
interact with messages, "tweets", restricted to 140 characters. Registered users can post
tweets, but those who are unregistered can only read them. Users access Twitter
through its website interface, SMS or a mobile device app.[10] Twitter Inc. is based in San
Francisco, California, United States, and has more than 25 offices around the world. [11]
Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan
Williams and launched in July of that year. The service rapidly gained worldwide
popularity. In 2012, more than 100 million users posted 340 million tweets a day, [12] and
the service handled an average of 1.6 billion search queries per day.[13][14][15] In 2013, it
was one of the ten most-visited websites and has been described as "the SMS of the
Internet".[16][17] As of 2016, Twitter had more than 319 million monthly active users.[6] On
the day of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Twitter proved to be the largest source of
breaking news, with 40 million election-related tweets sent by 10 p.m. (Eastern Time)
that day.[18]