LinkedIn is a social networking site that has rapidly gained popularity among professionals looking to connect with contacts, colleagues, and potential employers. Recently passing 70 million members , LinkedIn has become one of the most popular social media tools along with Facebook and Twitter.
How do you use LinkedIn?
Here are some facts and statistics about LinkedIn that illustrate how the network is used:
Ron Arden 10:36 AM on June 29, 2010
Based on these stats, is it better to focus on LinkedIn for B2B business than Facebook? LinkedIn focuses on business relationships, where I use Facebook more for personal relationships. What has been Hubspot's experience?
Lee Kirkby 11:05 AM on June 29, 2010
I have found LinkedIN more b2b friendly in my limited experience of the other social media sites. I also have found that following a number of LinkedIN groups has given me much more insight around the world.
Lewis Howes 11:25 AM on June 29, 2010
LinkedIn is the most powerful social network to grow your business, hands down. These stats help prove the point, and those that take action to build qualified connections and add value to those connections will make the most out of LinkedIn.
Judi Wunderlich 11:29 AM on June 29, 2010
LinkedIn is by FAR the best tool for business networking and making contacts, while Facebook is more for friends (which of course could be people who start out as business connections). Anyone serious about networking should join as many groups as possible on LinkedIn, as that's an easy way to make connections and be able to email people without a paid subscription.
Kumar 11:45 AM on June 29, 2010
I think the numbers are going to grow exponentially soon even with all the new publicity of LinkedIN. I believe it is better for recruiters and anyone in Corporate world to make good connections for change of jobs....Facebook is more personal, I do not understand why people do not keep the line between personal and professional life and just add you in both places....
Chris Zdunich 12:12 PM on June 29, 2010
Thanks for the summary. This is exactly the type of information I need to support my recommendation for greater Linkedin use by our staff.
Perfect timing. I was asked this morning, by one of our partners, if daily Linkedin activity is encouraged or useful?
Kelly Marsh 12:23 PM on June 29, 2010
I'm a big fan of LinkedIn! Great place to get to a high level contact in a company. Seems like it works better for B2B as where Facebook works better for B2C
Samuel Lavoie 1:12 PM on June 29, 2010
LinkedIn is the most powerful social site for a business even B2C where you can connect with the decisions makers and influencial people.
Ed Han 4:10 PM on June 29, 2010
That was an incredible amount of data, presented in truly breathtakingly clear fashion.
Geno Prussakov 5:39 PM on June 29, 2010
Stellar infographic. I've been waiting for someone to create one on LinkedIn. Thank you for this.
Peter Low 10:29 PM on June 29, 2010
I find the infographic very valuable, it provides me with clear information on where I should focus my marketing energy.
I had been using facebook all this time and twitter to some extent.
Thanks Hubspot for the great infomation.
Customer Support Geek 10:38 PM on June 29, 2010
I think I's use linkedin mostly for professional connections. I would join groups that would help me improve my business. They are really of great help.
Gustavo 11:45 PM on June 29, 2010
Excellent infographic. I was wondering whether somebody has had any experience in regards LinkedIn Ads?
Thanks for your comments!
Hazel 2:24 AM on June 30, 2010
LinkedIn is the best Social Networking Site. That helps in attracting more traffic and therefore increasing ROI.
Thanks for sharing the facts about linkedIn
Geoff 8:56 AM on June 30, 2010
Yes - agreed that LinkedIn is a valuable tool, and I've been there for over 6 years. However....
As the popularity grows and more people join I find a corresponding growth in spam and junk posts - especially in the groups. Somehow the idea that LinkedIn is more "business friendly" means that people feel far more comfortable throwing random posts in advertising their business or service when it has little or nothing to do with the discussion at hand. It's getting bad enough that I find myself visiting the site less and less as I just don't have the time or energy to wade through the junk.
Loic Jeanjean 3:14 PM on June 30, 2010
I agree with all the above. LinkedIn is THE social networking site for professionals. I work with a lot of financial advisors and recommend they spend their energy on boosting their LinkedIn profile rather than wondering around Twitter or Facebook. Most have seen incredible results through the site (increase in leads, web traffic, media attention etc.)
I have also found LinkedIn to be really targeted when it comes to ppc. I see higher conversion rate with running my ads with them than with Adwords for example. Well worth a try!
Myrna Greenfield 7:00 PM on June 30, 2010
I think LinkedIn is much better than Facebook for BtoB, but Facebook is great for building relationships with your fans
ilana eberson 7:31 PM on June 30, 2010
Thanks Hubspot. Linkedin Rocks for Business. I get more active business from LI than Twitter or FB. The only downside is running out of invites and then not being able to get more. Otherwise the site is excellent for serious business professionals.
Cheers, ilana
Arthur Charles Van Wyk 1:53 AM on July 01, 2010
I think the group thing on LinkedIn just works (compared to Facebook) if you're a business person serious about networking on a professional level, seeking answers to specific business questions and aligning yourself with like-minded individuals. This is the most difficult thing to get right on Facebook despite its popularity and ability to develop communities around ides fast. I think LinkedIn is the quality compared to the quantity on other social networks.
Mckinley Media Group 12:10 PM on July 02, 2010
Great infographic! I was recently looking into creating infographics. There're a great way to speak volumes without boring your audience.
Andy Shaindlin 6:07 PM on July 02, 2010
I find LinkedIn useful, like most of the commenters. But I agree with Geoff that spam is rampant without careful and attentive group management.
On a related note, while the stats posted here make a nice free ad/PR softball for LinkedIn, the fact is that reporting and metrics tools for LinkedIn group managers are still non-existent. We cannot get basic data about our group members' behavior, connections and the value they draw (in aggregate) from the service. Sure there are 1000 or 10000 members in your group. But do you have any idea what that means to your group members' success on the site? Or whether it benefits your organization, and how much?
Until the reporting tools are more robust and LinkedIn provides useful data to group managers, the site will be a big plus for LinkedIn and its individual members, but a big question mark for its groups, the groups' managers, and their parent organizations.
Diego Majlis 5:11 PM on July 05, 2010
Increidble that Argentina is at TOP-15 Countries.
Larry LaFata 2:53 PM on July 07, 2010
Nice stats, but the question remains, Roshni: who are the shady, murky,invisible owners of Linked In?
Owned and operated by the same Hedge Funds who were involved the financial derivatives fueled Wall Street to Global financial meltdown?
How about Twitter and Facebook and other non-publicly/privately held Social Media sites?
These stats are meaningless without a measurable ROI number, frankly.
These social media sites make me very nervous about privacy issues and the elites who own access to our information.
Recently, Bono of rock legend U2 - as front man for a consortium of wealthy individuals - just bought in a 25% interest in Facebook, which is 51% owned and controlled by a Russian group of oligarchs.
What's your view on this phenomenon?
david sparks 4:34 PM on July 21, 2010
all those stats are well and good however, i'm on linkedin. i update my info regularly. try and make new connections etc. It hasnt resulted in one contact about a position of any kind where as the week i get on monster and careerbuilder i get multiple emails a day. some suck, some are legit. But just the ability to get ones that suck is better than getting no contact at all on linkedin. young people dont care about the site bc it's seemingly useless. its for people with careers and past jobs, not young people looking for jobs.
theres also this weird mystery surrounding it regarding what exactly it does, how to use it and why.
I've been on it from the get go, my profile is firing on all cylinders and i still don't understand exactly what it does. and when it nets me zero conversations with people that might hire me for a desired position… it definitely feels like a waste of time when i log in.