LinkedIn is one of the most popular professional social networking platforms, with over 800 million users worldwide as of 2022. However, not all registered users are actively engaging with the platform. Determining the percentage of active LinkedIn users provides insight into how many people are regularly using LinkedIn to network, search for jobs, market their businesses, and more.
In this article, we will examine what constitutes an active LinkedIn user, look at LinkedIn’s user statistics and trends, and estimate the percentage of LinkedIn users that can be considered active based on available data. Understanding the level of user activity is useful for individuals looking to connect with other professionals on LinkedIn, as well as businesses utilizing LinkedIn for marketing, recruiting, and more.
Defining an Active LinkedIn User
To determine the percentage of active LinkedIn users, we first need to define what makes a user “active” on the platform. There are a few key signs of activity to consider:
– Profile updates: An active user regularly maintains their profile by adding new positions, skills, education, etc. Stagnant, outdated profiles often belong to inactive users.
– Content engagement: Active users frequently like, comment on, and share updates from connections and followed pages. This helps build connections and grow their network.
– Posting content: Active users post their own updates, articles, and other content to stay engaged with their connections. This includes posting on their profile, in groups, and on their company’s LinkedIn page if applicable.
– Searching for connections: Active users utilize LinkedIn’s search tools to find new connections, groups, and job opportunities. The platform’s algorithm favors active searchers.
– Message exchange: Active users leverage LinkedIn’s messaging tools to communicate with connections and prospects. The more messages sent, the more active the user.
Essentially, active users are continuously creating new connections, participating in discussions, posting content, and leveraging LinkedIn’s other features. Infrequent, passive users do not constitute active users, even if they maintain a profile. With this definition in mind, we can examine LinkedIn’s user data for clues about its active user percentage.
LinkedIn User Statistics and Trends
LinkedIn hit 800 million members in April 2022 according to the company’s Q1 2022 financial results. This number represents LinkedIn’s total registered user accounts. However, LinkedIn does not regularly report its number of active users. Nevertheless, there are some useful statistics and trends that can help estimate LinkedIn’s active user percentage:
– Monthly active users: In 2016, LinkedIn reported having 106 million monthly active users. This represents the number of registered members who visited LinkedIn at least once in the previous 30 days. This subset would generally be considered active users based on our definition.
– Increased engagement: LinkedIn’s sessions growth increased over 45% year-over-year as of Q1 2022. Sessions refer to the time members spend actively engaging on LinkedIn. This growth in engagement correlates to an increase in active users.
– Website traffic: LinkedIn’s website received over 277 million monthly visits as of June 2022 according to Similarweb data. Again, this traffic indicates there are hundreds of millions of active members frequently accessing LinkedIn.
– Content post growth: The number of posts, likes, and comments on LinkedIn have continuously grown over the past several years. This shows more users are actively posting and interacting with content.
– Ad revenue increase: LinkedIn’s advertising revenue hit $3 billion in 2021, up 57% from the previous year. More active members means increased engagement for advertisers.
These benchmarks demonstrate steady growth in LinkedIn usage and engagement in recent years. We can use this context along with the total registered user figure to estimate LinkedIn’s active user percentage.
Estimating LinkedIn’s Active User Percentage
While LinkedIn does not disclose its number of active users, we can make a reasonable estimate based on the information covered:
– Total registered users: 800 million as of April 2022
– Monthly active users: 106 million reported in 2016
– Strong growth across usage metrics since 2016
Given these figures, it is likely that LinkedIn’s number of monthly active users has grown from the 106 million reported in 2016. Conservatively estimating that this count has doubled over the past 6 years, we could place LinkedIn’s current monthly active users around 200 million.
For a more generous estimate, we might project 300 million monthly active users based on the strong two-year growth in sessions and continued gains across other engagement metrics.
Taking these estimates and the total user count of 800 million, we can estimate LinkedIn’s percentage of active users to be:
– Conservative estimate: 25%
– Generous estimate: 37.5%
This range of 25% to 37.5% likely encapsulates the true percentage of active LinkedIn users as of 2022. These active users would represent members who are consistently engaging with the platform through content, messaging, searching, and profile maintenance according to our definition.
To summarize, out of 800 million total registered accounts, an estimated 200-300 million or 25-37.5% can be considered active monthly LinkedIn users at present. These ballpark figures give us a better sense of LinkedIn’s large but focused user base.
Factors Impacting Active User Percentage
LinkedIn’s active user percentage is influenced by a few key factors:
– Profile maintenance: Some users create a LinkedIn profile but rarely update it afterwards, causing them to become inactive over time. Reminding users to add new roles and skills and complete their profile can improve activity.
– Email notifications: LinkedIn emails like digests and notifications encourage re-engagement. Reduced email open rates can correlate to fewer active users.
– User experience: Interface changes or app issues that frustrate users can decrease activity. LinkedIn must maintain a positive UX to sustain active usage.
– New features: LinkedIn rolls out new features and tools regularly. Compelling new offerings can boost engagement among existing users.
– Business demand: During periods of high hiring and economic growth, usage and activity tend to increase. Recessions can suppress engagement and activity rates.
– User value: The more value users get from LinkedIn, the more likely they are to remain actively engaged over time. Delivering a continuously rewarding user experience is key.
LinkedIn considers these factors among others when developing products, features, and communications to maintain an engaged user base. But users also play a role by staying on top of profile updates, connecting with new contacts, participating in groups, and generally using LinkedIn to meet professional needs.
By routinely interacting with LinkedIn in this manner, users can count themselves among the platform’s estimated 200-300 million active members worldwide.
Conclusion
Despite having over 800 million registered members, LinkedIn’s active user percentage is likely around 25-37.5% based on available data. This equates to 200-300 million monthly active users who are continually searching, posting, messaging, and networking on LinkedIn to further professional objectives.
While the bulk of LinkedIn’s members are not actively utilizing the platform, a user base of hundreds of millions still presents tremendous value for individuals looking to connect with other professionals, as well as recruiters, marketers, and companies leveraging LinkedIn to find talent and promote their brands.
Maintaining an active presence on LinkedIn remains important for fully capitalizing on the opportunities the platform provides. By routinely interacting with connections, posting updates, joining groups, and searching for new contacts and information, users can gain immense value from LinkedIn while also becoming one of its many active members.