Though Social Media has majorly been about recreational conversations, it holds a very high potential to get work done too. Social Networks like Twitter, Facebook, etc. have been used & viewed as mediums to spend leisure time. However, the creators of LinkedIn realized the need for people to get serious about their professions & have discussions pertaining to their area of expertise. Thus a new segment took birth ‘Professional Social Networking’.
Surprisingly, LinkedIn is older by Twitter by about 4 years. Founded in 2002 & started in 2003, the site now beams in multiple languages like English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Romanian, Russian, Turkish, Japanese, Czech, Polish, Korean, Bahasa Indonesia, and Bahasa Malaysia. The observation that 60% of its users reside outside of
The Numbers: Going exclusive has not helped LinkedIn in terms of subscriber numbers. When Infographic Labs took the effort of compiling an exhaustive infographic about LinkedIn, the number of registered users had crossed 150 Million. However, recent statistics confirmed the present number has crossed 175 Million registered users. The fact that about 2 members join LinkedIn every second, must have helped it approach the 200 Million mark.
On the internal side LinkedIn employs more than 2000 employees, a four-fold increase within 2 years. Using the simple agenda of offering a professional looking platform for professionals, LinkedIn has managed to attract the most sought after demographics aged 18-35. These include working professionals, CEOs, students and recent college graduates. Using this support, LinkedIn can now boast of being the 36th most visited website in the world.
The Trust Circle: LinkedIn is all about promotion of professional tie-ups. If you are a job-seeker or are looking for a change, LinkedIn can become a real useful tool in finding out the right kind of people within the target company. With recommendation from present & past colleagues, getting a credible reputation can become a door-opener at many interviews. From a Job-giver’s point of view, a business account helps in setting up a virtual & collective effort to have your employees sign-up. The responsibility of finding the right candidate can be really accomplished by joining the relevant groups to keep an eye on the go-getters. By inviting prospects into your network a virtual invitation can also be extended to probable candidates.
The Economic Angle: Besides offering a platform LinkedIn also offers recruitment & head-hunting solutions to corporations. With 4.2 Billion professionally oriented searches on its platform, it is not difficult to observe the trends, the trend-setters & the followers to rightly choose the correct candidate for the appropriate company.
Additionally, LinkedIn has acquired companies like SlideShare, ‘The YouTube of Slide Shows’ & Rapportive, which share its vision. Using its tireless techniques, Revenues for 2011 reached $522 million. Additionally, with regular rounds of funding by Venture Capital firms has helped the company stay cash-rich.
We are sure our readers must have a LinkedIn account. The question, has it helped you?
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