LinkedIn is a professional networking platform that allows users to connect with other professionals, search for jobs, post resumes, and more. With over 800 million members, LinkedIn has become an indispensable tool for business networking and recruitment. However, there is an ongoing debate about whether LinkedIn should be considered social media.
While LinkedIn shares some similarities with social networks like Facebook and Twitter, there are several key differences that set it apart. In this article, we will examine the purpose, features, and use cases of LinkedIn to understand why it does not neatly fit into the social media category.
The Purpose of LinkedIn
LinkedIn was founded in 2002 with the stated mission to “connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.” The core purpose of the platform is professional networking, which allows users to connect with colleagues, clients, industry experts, and potential employers.
In contrast, mainstream social networks like Facebook emerged with a broader focus on general socializing and keeping up with friends and family. While you can add connections on LinkedIn for personal reasons, the platform itself is optimized for professional networking.
This distinction in purpose has shaped the features and user experience of LinkedIn to cater to a business audience. Next, we’ll look at some of LinkedIn’s functionality in more detail.
Key Features of LinkedIn
LinkedIn provides users with several features that aim to serve professional goals:
Profiles
LinkedIn profiles are essentially professional resumes that highlight a user’s work experience, education, skills, accomplishments, recommendations, and other credentials. Profiles often resemble a CV or resume. Users are encouraged to customize their profiles to best represent their professional capabilities.
Feed
The LinkedIn feed surfaces relevant professional updates, news, articles, and content published on the platform. It lacks the personal status updates you would find on a typical social media news feed.
Groups
Users can join professional groups based on industry, interests, school alumni, and more. Groups allow members to discuss issues, share advice, post jobs, and make connections within a niche.
Job Listings
LinkedIn has an extensive database of job listings and allows users to directly apply for opportunities through the platform. Job hunting is a core use case.
Messaging
Users can message connections directly to ask for informational interviews, job opportunities, career advice, and more. The messaging system facilitates professional networking.
Content Publishing
Users can publish long-form posts to share insights, build influence, and demonstrate thought leadership. But again, the focus is professional rather than personal.
Social Media Platform | Primary Purpose |
---|---|
General socializing with friends & family | |
Share news, opinions, trends | |
Share photos, videos, stories | |
Professional networking |
As this comparison shows, while mainstream social networks have a broad focus on socializing and entertainment, LinkedIn specifically caters to career and business goals.
How People Use LinkedIn
To further illustrate that LinkedIn serves specialized professional needs, let’s examine some of the most common use cases:
Job Searching
LinkedIn has become one of the top resources for finding and applying to jobs. Users can explore open positions, get notified when relevant jobs are posted, submit applications directly through LinkedIn, and get contacted by recruiters.
Professional Networking
Building a strong professional network brings many career benefits. LinkedIn allows users to connect with colleagues, mentors, industry leaders, and recruiters who can provide opportunities, advice, and support.
Establishing Thought Leadership
By publishing long-form posts and engaging content, users can build a personal brand and thought leadership within their field. This can lead to career advancement and consulting opportunities.
Business Development
LinkedIn supports business development and sales in various ways. Sales professionals can identify prospects, join relevant groups, advertise, send targeted messages, and more.
Researching Companies & Industries
Users can research target companies, competitors, clients, and overall industry trends by following relevant company pages, groups, topics, and influencers.
Education & Learning
Many people use LinkedIn Learning for professional development. Users can take courses, follow influencers, and join groups to stay updated on their industry.
Again, each of these use cases centers around career or business goals rather than general socializing. While some people use LinkedIn to make personal connections, the platform’s features are predominantly optimized for professional advancement.
Limitations for Non-Professional Use
LinkedIn lacks many features commonly found on mainstream social networks that enable casual socializing and community-building. For example:
– No ability to post photos or videos outside of the profile/cover photo slots
– No options for non-professional groups like hobbies, fandoms, parenting, dating, etc.
– No support for common social features like events, games, filters, stickers, etc.
– Restrictions on profile fields to keep the focus on professional details
– Limitations on interest-based content discovery outside of professional interests
– Less emphasis on frequent status updates, shares, and two-way conversations
So while you can certainly use LinkedIn to socialize, the platform’s constraints make it suboptimal for that purpose compared to other social networks.
LinkedIn Demographics
LinkedIn’s user base skews heavily towards working professionals in white-collar jobs and college-educated adults. About 90% of users are over the age of 25. This contrasts with the broader age demographics found on platforms like TikTok or Instagram.
LinkedIn is most popular among:
– Recruiters and HR professionals
– Sales and marketing professionals
– Higher education students and alumni
– Finance and business executives
– Tech and engineering professionals
– Entrepreneurs and consultants
Essentially, LinkedIn draws career-oriented demographics who use social media specifically for professional advancement and networking. The user statistics further indicate that LinkedIn serves specialized business needs compared to general social media.
Advertising and Monetization
LinkedIn makes money through recruitment services, premium subscriptions, and advertising targeted to professionals. For example:
– Job listings and premium recruiting tools such as InMail and candidate targeting
– Premium subscriptions with features like profile visibility, advanced messaging, and data insights
– Sponsored content and text ads targeted using professional demographic data
This professional-centric monetization contrasts with the broader retail and consumer advertising common on large social networks. Again, the focus remains firmly on business-to-business use cases.
LinkedIn’s Marketing
LinkedIn describes itself as a professional networking platform rather than as social media. On their about page, they state:
“LinkedIn connects the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. This is our singular mission and driving purpose.”
The company’s branding and messaging clearly present LinkedIn as a professional platform, not a social network. While LinkedIn enables networking and community-building like social media, the core use case differs significantly.
Regulatory Oversight
Governments apply different requirements and scrutiny to mainstream social media platforms versus specialized professional networks like LinkedIn. This indicates that regulators also view LinkedIn as something distinct from social media.
For example, while Meta/Facebook and Twitter regularly face Congressional hearings and regulatory pressure relating to data, privacy, and content issues, LinkedIn has largely avoided that degree of public policy scrutiny.
Conclusion
In summary, while LinkedIn leverages online networking like social media, the platform differs significantly in its purpose, features, use cases, demographics, monetization, branding, and regulatory treatment.
LinkedIn is optimized as a professional networking tool to serve career and business goals rather than general socializing and entertainment. The platform’s specialized focus on professional use cases is what definitively sets it apart from mainstream social media.