Although it is not quite at the stature of Facebook, and is not considered as cool or hip as other social media sites, LinkedIn has done some great things as far as contributing to the ever growing dependency on social media in daily life. That is because alongside having a thriving social live out of work, there needs to be the balance of a social experience in the workplace. Since LinkedIn has little competition in the world of exclusively professional social media, the company thrives in their industry. On Wednesday of last week, the company reached a milestone that they had been working at for some time.
The company on Wednesday reached the 200 million member mark. They have now crossed into new territory, where network traffic is large enough to be considered a top network by some.
We recently crossed an important and exciting milestone for the company. LinkedIn now counts over 200 million members as part of our network, with representation in more than 200 countries and territories. We serve our members in 19 languages around the world.
I’d like to thank each of you for helping build the LinkedIn network into what it is today. It’s been amazing to see how our members have been able to transform their professional lives through LinkedIn. You truly grasp the power of LinkedIn when you start to focus on these individual success stories.
Not only has the company announced their new feat, but they have also provided an accompanying infographic that explains in further detail, just what the network’s user base looks like.
Out of LinkedIn’s over 200 million members, approximately 74 million hail from the United States. What is not surprising is finding out that the United States did not land a spot on the list of fasting growing countries in terms of LinkedIn use, as businesses in the US have been using the service for some time now. Finally, the largest industry for LinkedIn users in terms of occupation is Information Technology and Services with 4 million members, followed by financial services with 2.03 million members.
With Facebook’s billion member mark recently occurring, there is a pretty huge line that LinkedIn would have to cross before reaching the level of potential that Facebook shows. However, marketers can still get excited about LinkedIn, especially now. With 200 million members, the network shows signs of growth that will be continuing. Plus, any marketer that needs to reach a professional audience knows exactly where to find them.
LinkedIn may not be the best option for all marketers, but we cannot forget that it is indeed an option. Facebook receives quite a bit of praise, as it should, with the results the network can bring in. However, LinkedIn can provide an audience that Facebook cannot, and that gives it an advantage that Facebook does not have. Reaching 200 million members gave LinkedIn the traffic numbers that the company desired, and marketers should be excited about the increased user base as well.
