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The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has reportedly written to LinkedIn Corp, questioning the company over a potential breach of the Companies Act. According to sources, the market regulator has alleged that the business-oriented social networking service is providing startups and individuals a platform to raise money publicly.

However, LinkedIn has denied all such allegations. Head of Consumer PR-Asia Pacific, Deepa Sapatnekar stated, LinkedIns vision is to create economic opportunity for the entire global workforce. We can confirm that LinkedIn is not engaged in any activities associated with the securities market.

LinkedIn currently reaches more than 42 Mn users across India, some of whom are angel investors. The platform also hosts several funding groups that claim to offer financing to any registered LinkedIn users involved in entrepreneurial activities.

Popular groups that fall in this list include Startups and Entrepreneurs Get Funded (62,396 members) and Global Investment Network (44,005 members).

Email queries sent to LinkedIn did not elicit a response at the time of publication.

Given the wide user base of the social networking platform, the SEBI believes that the number of investors funding startups through these LinkedIn groups could very well be upwards of 200. This stands in direct violation of the Companies Act, which dictates that a private company securing funding from 200 or more investors should make a public issue of the securities on an established stock exchange.

One angel investor told Livemint requesting anonymity, For practical reasons, these online networks can be used by companies/startups to solicit funding from practically millions of registered users. So, a founder of a company can be a part of such groups and propose detailed funding proposals in the group, which can be broadcast to all the members within a second. In comparison to professional and dedicated Indian online funding platforms, LinkedIn and Facebook have enormous reach.

As per reports, the concerns were raised by the SEBI in a letter to the social networking service, wherein the regulatory body asked the social networking service to share details of the measuresithas adopted to ensure that private placement norms are not violated.

In the second week of August, it was reported that the SEBI is looking to finalise crowdfunding norms. In the case of larger firms, the SEBI is considering exempting crowdfunding activities from the private placement norms under the Companies Act.

Around the same time, the board formed a Committee on Financial and Regulatory Technologies (CFRT) to examine ongoing and medium-term trends related to fintech in the securities and financial markets worldwide. The 10-member CERT committee is being headed by T.V. Mohandas Pai. The committee has been created to advise the market regulator on opportunities and challenges for new solutions and its impact on the countrys securities market.

In a separate development, between July 2017 and August 2017, the Securities and Exchange Board of India sent notices to a dozen angel networks, asking them to reveal details of their fundraising business. The aim, according to a SEBI official, was to know the persons running these platforms, and whether these platforms are operating like exchanges; whether public issue norms are being sidestepped.

As revealed by sources close to the development, LinkedIn is currently working with the SEBI to address concerns surrounding the Companies Act. How it will affect its reach among angel investors and startup founders will likely become clear in the coming months.

(The development was reported by Livemint)

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SEBI Concerned About Fundraising Via Social Networking Firm ... - Inc42 Media

Theres a new social networking platform for professionals, and its taking a really cool and unique approach. Connecting with others in your career field is vital, but so many of the existing platforms for that are full of spammers, scammers, and just riffraff in general. Silo, new to the game, looks to be changing the rules of social networking. Those rules insist on spam-free and ad-free social networking.

A social networking app with a clean interface and no ads is precisely what professionals want and need

Thats what Facebook and LinkedIn alike have become to me, distractions. There are so many advertisements, fake accounts, and spammers on both of them. Its often challenging to separate the wheat from the chaff. Ive all but given up, in some ways, of doing any serious networking with my peers. That applies to both of them, Facebook and LinkedIn alike.

Ill be honest. Id despaired of ever finding a social media outlet to network with my colleagues without being inundated with ads. There are advertisements for just about everything under the sun. After all, I fully recognize that it costs money to run such a platform. There are costs for development, hosting the website, and then the profit question. How can a social networking platform reduce the interference from spam and scams?

That question leads to what I think is the coolest feature of Silo. The community grows organically, and tries to maintain that type of growth without letting in those who would just destroy the virtual environment with their scams, trolling, and spammy comments.

To accomplish this, Silo utilizes a screening mechanism to keep the quality of people getting in as high as possible. When you sign up for Silo, the platform evaluates what contacts you have who are already registered on the service. Whether those contacts are from LinkedIn or Facebook, Silo evaluates whether or not you can be trusted on the site.

If someone signs up without enough contacts, or with no contacts at all, their application is manually screened before theyre granted access to the platform. That way, the folks behind the Silo community can make sure advertisers, spammers, and scammers dont infiltrate the discussions and detract from the value of the social platform.

Currently, Silo is 100 percent free to use. As long as you dont violate the terms of service for the platform, you can read and post to your hearts content. Theres absolutely no cost, either direct or indirect. It really is ad-free social networking. Eventually, though, Silo will be looking to turn a profit, so there may be some concern about the service turning to advertisements like many of its predecessors.

To avoid that outcome, Silo CEO and founder Moshik Raccah says the platform will revolve around two business models. One will involve recruiting, like someone posting that they are seeking to hire a product manager. The second will deal with connecting people with service and product providers, like when a person is looking for an app growth expert.

This is the kind of business model I can get behind. Rather than relying upon advertising revenue, the platform gets sponsorship from individuals and companies. These are folks looking to recruit or engage with a specific type of company, product, service, or person. The communities within Silo can thrive, people can post and connect, and all can be done without the intrusion of advertisements for the 1TB Minecraft Xbox bundle or AT&Ts internet for business plans.

If you want to check out Silo for yourself, simply download the iPhone or Mac app from their respective App Stores.

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Silo Demonstrates Spam-Free and Ad-free Social Networking - The Mac Observer

A second Big Pharma player has reached into the retail ranks to find someone to take the top digital job for the company.

Novartis today said that it is bringing on Bertrand Bodson, currently chief digital and marketing officer for Argos, the online and catalogoperation that grocery retailer Sainsbury acquired last year. His hire comes just weeks after GlaxoSmithKline announced it had hired a formerWalmart executive for top IT position.

Bodson, who starts Jan. 1 and will report to Novartis CEO Joseph Jimenez, is taking on a new role at the company, chief digital officer. His charge is to help the drugmaker do better with data, from R&Dthrough interactions with doctors and patients, and make the companys business operations more efficient.

"Bertrand has a proven track record of creating and implementing successful digital strategies across global companies, and leading cultural change in order to make this happen at scale," Jimenez said in a statement. "This is not just about digital helping the business. Bertrand will help us transform our business model using digital technologies."

RELATED: Merck aims to put Amazon's Alexa to work on voice-enabled diabetes tools

The Belgian citizen and Harvard MBA comes with some street cred in digital, having co-founded Bragster, a video-sharing website where users dare each other to perform stunts or tasks. It was acquired in 2010 by Guinness World Records. Bodson started his career in 1998 at Boston Consulting Group and has held positions at Amazon and EMI Music.

With cell phones, social networking and big data creating so-called digital disruptions in a number of industries, Big Pharma is tryingto catch up to retailing and other industries that have been tapping that potential. Companies are doing more with digital in clinical trials and creating apps for tracking a variety of health conditions.

RELATED: Novartis expands Vivinda TV, offering docs digital access to medical conferences

Novartis is already trying on some new digital technologies, having started Vivinda TV, a virtual conference platform that delivers on-demand medical content for healthcare providers.

Some newer biotechs can form with digital wired into their DNA, but the big players are looking for experts to help them integrate it faster and effectively.

RELATED: GlaxoSmithKline partners with Alibaba for China HPV vaccine market grab

Last month, GSK CEO Emma Walmsley, who comes from a consumer health background, named former Walmart Stores executive Karenann Terrell to the new senior position of chief digital and technology officer to help the company harness data and digital to push forward. Terrell, who left Walmart in March, has also done stints at Baxter International and DaimlerChrysler.

Like other drugmakers, GSK is experimenting with new digital approaches. It recently worked out a deal with Chinas e-commerce giant Alibaba to push vaccinations in China.

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Novartis names e-commerce, social networking expert as chief digital honcho - FiercePharma

Social networking is all the rage. Kids these days have mostly moved to Instagram and Snapchat rather than Facebook, but many have profiles and access on all of the above and then some. Various websites continue to sprng up for the sole purpose of providing a place for users to express themselves, share with like-minded individuals, discover new things, and communicate with others. Theres a good chance there are some cutting edge social network platforms youre not even aware of, but your kids areand so are the predators that want to target your kids.

There have been numerous instances of sexual predators and child molesters posing as children to network with young victims on Facebook. The concept of social networking extends to other areas as well. For example, Youtube provides users with the ability to express their creativity, network, rate their favorite video clips, etc. While not directly related to a social network, Craigslist, the popular regional classified listings site, has used by a predators to lure victims.

Some sites like Flickr, Tumblr, or PhotoBucket provide users with the ability to post and share photos and family videos. It is possible to restrict access and only let users you identify view the pictures, but many users are proud of their kids and their photographic skills and allow the general public to view the photos as well. Child molesters and sexual deviants can search through these sites as well, though, and bookmark their favorite photos of young boys and girls.

The bottom line is that social networking is hugely popular and it is big business. Unfortunately, child molesters, sexual predators, and scam artists have discovered that these sites can also be exploited to find victims. Anywhere online that allows for commenting and communication can also be exploited by predators and bullies.

Follow these steps to use social networking sites responsibly and avoid becoming a victim:

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5 Ways to Protect Against Predators and Bullies on Social Networks - TechSpective

LinkedIn is primarily used as a business networking tool, or to find a job. While LinkedIn refreshed its entire site earlier this year, most users dont use it for daily social networking updates like they might on Facebook or Twitter. LinkedIn is trying to tempt users to share more on the site by adding video support today.

Video testing began last month, and now all LinkedIn users can upload videos to the social network. LinkedIns Android and iOS apps support video uploads, but theres no live streaming support available at launch. Microsoft is rolling this out globally to all LinkedIn users over the next few weeks, and members will be able to access analytics on locations of viewers, the amount of comments, likes, and views, and the ability to see what companies are viewing videos.

LinkedIns video addition follows the Tinder-style launch of a feature for pairing mentors with people looking for professional advice last month. While Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for $26 billion last year, the software maker has largely rolled out features that were already planned ahead of the acquisition. Microsoft did release a new Windows 10 app for LinkedIn last month, complete with notifications for the notification center.

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LinkedIn adds video support to become more of a social network - The Verge