LinkedIn is a social media platform designed specifically for professional networking and career development. Founded in 2002 and launched in 2003, LinkedIn allows users to connect with colleagues, search for jobs, join industry groups, and share content relevant to their professional interests. With over 810 million members in more than 200 countries, LinkedIn is one of the largest professional networks in the world.
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn can be thought of as an online resume and Rolodex. Members create profiles summarizing their professional accomplishments, education, skills, and employment history. These profiles serve as professional portfolios that can be shared with others in their network. Members also upload and share photos, slides, charts, articles and other content.
In addition to profiles, LinkedIn allows members to make connections by inviting trusted contacts to join their professional network. The platform suggests connections based on shared networks, organizations, and employers to help members expand their networks organically. Once a connection is made, members can interact through direct messaging and notifications.
At its core, LinkedIn revolves around relationships. The platform allows professionals to establish, develop, and nurture a network of trusted contacts. Having a strong network on LinkedIn can lead to career opportunities, business deals, valuable introductions, and access to industry insights. According to LinkedIn, over 70% of professionals on LinkedIn are open to new job opportunities.
Key Features of LinkedIn
Here are some of the key features that LinkedIn offers its members:
- Profiles – Customizable profiles to showcase professional backgrounds, accomplishments, and interests
- Connections – Ability to connect with other professionals and build an online network
- Groups – Forums to join groups focused on specific industries, interests, universities, and more
- Job Listings – Millions of job postings from companies seeking to hire qualified candidates
- Content Sharing – News feeds and social sharing features to share professional content
- Companies – Over 60 million business pages where companies can promote their products/services
- SlideShare – Platform for sharing professional presentations, infographics, and documents
- Learning – Online courses and learning resources to develop business and creative skills
- Recommendations – Members can write and request recommendations to showcase skills and build credibility
How Does LinkedIn Work?
LinkedIn operates a software as a service (SaaS) business model. Members join LinkedIn by creating a profile and can then take advantage of LinkedIn’s suite of features at no charge. LinkedIn generates revenue through several premium subscriptions, hiring services, and advertising sales targeted to members based on their profile data.
Here is an overview of how the core components of LinkedIn work:
Profiles
Profiles are a key part of LinkedIn, serving as a member’s professional profile. When setting up a profile, members provide details about their professional background including:
- Employment history
- Education
- Skills
- Accomplishments
- Volunteer work
- Publications
- Certifications
- Awards
Profiles have sections for a summary, experience, education, skills, recommendations, accomplishments, interests, and more. Members can also add media like photos and presentations to bring their profiles to life.
Profiles are customizable, allowing members to tailor their profile for networking, job searching, business deals, or other professional needs. Profiles can be enhanced by recommendations from connections, links to projects, publications, volunteer work, and other areas that exhibit professional capabilities.
Connections
The connections feature allows LinkedIn members to connect with other professionals in their network. This allows members to tap into their real-world networks of colleagues, clients, partners, and friends. It also provides visibility into 3rd and 2nd degree connections to help expand reach.
Connections maintain a record of the relationship between two members and allows them to exchange messages and updates. Members can connect with anyone, but it is advisable to only connect with professionals they know and trust. Connections must be approved before linking profiles.
LinkedIn displays the number of connections for each profile as a signal of the member’s professional network. Standard profiles can have up to 30,000 connections. A premium Business Plus account allows up to 100,000 connections.
Groups
Joining Groups on LinkedIn allows members to participate in forums focused on specific professional subjects, industries, interests, universities, and more. Groups foster engagement between members through ongoing dialog. As members interact, new professional relationships can form organically over common interests and experiences.
Groups have their own news feeds where members can post content and comment on posts. Group membership signals professional interests and expertise to other members. Groups may be open to all members or require approval to join.
Job Listings
LinkedIn operates an extensive job board with millions of job listings from thousands of companies. Job listings on LinkedIn pull directly from company career pages and job boards. Recruiters and hiring managers leverage LinkedIn to source qualified candidates.
Members can browse jobs and apply directly through LinkedIn. Job searching can be targeted by keyword, location, company, job function, industry, experience level, and other criteria. Members receive job recommendations in their LinkedIn feeds based on their profiles.
In addition to active job hunting, members can signal they are open to new opportunities on their profiles. Recruiters search LinkedIn for passive candidates that match roles but are not actively job seeking. Over 70% of LinkedIn members are open to being contacted by recruiters about new job opportunities.
Content Sharing
LinkedIn allows members to publish long-form and short posts, share articles, links, photos, infographics, and other media. Shared content displays in the member’s profile and in the news feeds of their connections, allowing it to propagate across LinkedIn.
Posts can mention other members and companies to tie it back to professional connections and interests. Members can cross-promote posts to their personal social media accounts. Comments and likes allow members to interact with posts.
In addition to user generated content, members see curated business-focused news stories in their feeds from publishers like The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and Harvard Business Review.
Companies
LinkedIn Company Pages provide businesses with a presence on LinkedIn to promote their brands, products, services, culture, and job openings. Companies can publish posts, share media, and interact with followers. Many companies attract thousands of followers on LinkedIn.
Company pages showcase vital information like descriptions of company offerings, employee statistics, headquarters location, company history, leadership bios, and open job listings. Members can follow company pages to stay up-to-date on brands that interest them.
Advertising
LinkedIn runs an advertising network optimized for targeting professionals based on data from their LinkedIn profiles. Advertising takes the form of sponsored content in LinkedIn feeds, sponsored InMail, display ads, and creative formats like Video Ads.
Targeting options allow advertisers to be highly specific in which members will see their ads based on professional details like job title, company, industry, location, age, gender, and interests. Advertisers can also target by the types of content members engage with. Performance tracking provides insights into actions driven by ads.
Premium Subscriptions
While the core functionality of LinkedIn is free, premium subscriptions provide enhanced features and benefits for members and businesses. There are individual subscriptions like Job Seeker and Business Plus as well as subscriptions for recruiting and sales.
Here are some premium features:
- See profiles of members who viewed yours
- Unlimited InMail messages
- Profile badge indicating premium subscriber
- Expanded network by searching 1st and 2nd degree connections
- See full profiles of colleagues
- Advanced profile filtering and contact searching
- messaging.
Premium subscriptions are priced on a monthly or annual basis. Many professionals and businesses see the extra capabilities and network visibility as beneficial to their careers and bottom lines.
Benefits of LinkedIn
There are many advantages to professionals being active on LinkedIn. Here are some of the top benefits:
Networking
LinkedIn provides a simple way for professionals to develop and maintain relationships with colleagues, clients, partners, and peers. Tapping into this network can reveal job opportunities, access to senior leaders, business deals, funding sources, skilled partners, and more.
Establish Credibility and Thought Leadership
LinkedIn provides a platform for professionals to consistently share expertise and demonstrate thought leadership in their industries. Participating in industry discussions and posting insightful content builds personal and company brands.
Discover Opportunities
LinkedIn surfaces job openings, potential clients, partnership opportunities, and introductions through advanced search filters and algorithmic recommendations based on profiles and engagement.
Stay Informed on Trends and News
Following thought leaders, publications, groups, and companies provides a stream of news and insights to stay on top of important developments across industries.
Showcase Skills and Achievements
Profiles and recommendations provide a place for professionals to exhibit their backgrounds, accomplishments, and abilities to connections and recruiters.
Find Jobs
Millions of jobs are posted to LinkedIn globally. Profiles can be optimized to be discovered by recruiters for open positions.
Research
LinkedIn provides robust company, industry, and people search to quickly find background information for business development, talent recruiting, and partnership evaluation.
Education
LinkedIn Learning provides thousands of expert-led courses and training videos covering business, creative, and technology topics to support professional development.
LinkedIn User Demographics
LinkedIn has become a go-to platform for working professionals. Here is a snapshot of key LinkedIn user demographics:
| Total Members | 810+ million (Q2 2022) |
| Monthly Active Users | 280+ million (Q2 2022) |
| User Gender | 62% Male / 38% Female (2022 est.) |
| User Age | 50% are 30-49 years old (2022 est.) |
| Countries Represented | More than 200 countries |
| Website Traffic Rank | 28th globally / 15th in US (Sep 2022) |
| Mobile Usage | 63% of sessions (Q2 2022) |
LinkedIn sees particularly strong usage in software, IT services, corporate services, healthcare, finance, manufacturing, education, and media professions. Penetration is high among business executives, managers, and white-collar professions.
Pro Tips for Using LinkedIn
Here are some pro tips for getting the most out of LinkedIn:
Complete Your Profile
A 100% complete profile has a 40x higher chance of being viewed by recruiters. Include details on skills, experience, education, accomplishments, recommendations, and media.
Engage With Content
Commenting on posts, sharing articles, participating in discussions, and publishing your own content boosts visibility and thought leadership.
Focus on Quality Connections
It’s better to have 500 substantive connections than 50,000 generic contacts. Nurture your real-world network of colleagues and partners.
Join Relevant Groups
Pick a few quality groups focused on topics that matters to you professionally to build community and demonstrate expertise.
Follow Influencers and Companies
Curate your feed with updates from thought leaders, brands, publishers, and organizations that provide value.
Be Active with Publishing
Consistently post your own updates, articles, images, videos, and presentations to build a professional brand and presence.
Utilize LinkedIn Ads
For businesses, place targeted ads to reach the right professionals with precision based on their profile data and activity.
Use Premium Features
Premium accounts offer expanded search, messaging, and profile views that take networking and recruiting to the next level.
Watch LinkedIn Learning Videos
Gain new business, creative, and tech skills through thousands of expert-led courses included with premium accounts and company plans.
Showcase Volunteer Work and Causes
Highlighting volunteer experiences, skills-based volunteering, and causes brings a more human side to your profile.
Conclusion
With over 810 million members, LinkedIn is the go-to social network for professionals. Members can showcase experience, make connections, access job listings, join groups, share content, learn new skills, and research companies and contacts.
The platform revolves around relationship building between working professionals. A strong network leads to new opportunities, valuable insights, and enhanced credibility. Regular engagement on LinkedIn keeps members visible and top of mind as subject matter experts.
For businesses, LinkedIn provides targeted advertising, company pages, and recruiting solutions to engage professional talent. Premium features provide greater capabilities to search contacts, evaluate talent pools, and market to the right audiences.
As careers extend over decades, LinkedIn provides a consistent platform for professionals to control their reputations, cultivate networks, and progress through the opportunities offered by connections. With ongoing platform enhancements and expanded global membership, LinkedIn is poised to remain a key hub for professional engagement and advancement.
