Launched in 2003, LinkedIn is a social networking service aimed at business professionals.
Mainly used for professional networking, the site claims to have more than 433 million users, with more than 105 million users active each month.
LinkedIn allows users, generally workers and employers, to create profiles and connect with each other – thereby creating an online social network which mirrors real-life professional relationships.
Sitting at the core of LinkedIn is a user’s ‘connections’, which can be used in a number of ways from finding jobs to obtaining connections of connections thereby expanding their professional network. Employers can also use LinkedIn to recruit and post jobs, as well as allowing users to ‘like’, ‘share’ and comment on status updates such as promotions and new employment.
LinkedIn also allows users to expand their professional network with people outside their immediate sector or market – through groups and connecting, users can communicate with professionals from over 200 countries and territories. There are over a million groups on LinkedIn in which users can connect. While the majority are employment related, there a large number of common-interest groups which users can also contribute to. Some groups are private and users must request to join, whereas others are public and users can join and start commenting immediately.
Who bought LinkedIn for $26.2bn?
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