The Many Flavors of LinkedIn Networking

Networks, social & transportation, reach new destinations.

Many of the readers of my blogs connect to them via updates I send through LinkedIn. This blog entry is about how others use LinkedIn. A fascinating study by LinkedIn expert Wayne Breitbarth, as reported in Forbes Magazine, highlights the following:

• 41% have 500+ connections, up from 30% in 2013.
• 15% have 1,000+ connections, up from 8% in 2013.
• paid membership is down from 18% to 16% over the last year, but this could be due to the surging number of overall users.
• 57% of users are spending more than two hours per week on LinkedIn, presumably because they find it valuable.
• The favorite, most helpful features are seeing who has viewed your profile, the suggested "people you may know", and the ability to directly contact first-level connections.
• Groups are less popular than a year ago, perhaps because updates are feeling like spam, yet the ability to participate in group discussions and to contact other group members directly are key features if used correctly.
• Posting status updates continues to gain importance, now up to 39%.
• Company page usage soared from 24% to 57% in the last year.
• Over 70% use LinkedIn to research companies and people, as well as to reconnect with former colleagues.

While some things change, often rapidly, when it comes to technology and social networking, LinkedIn continues to gain traction. That being said, there are some cautionary notes to take away from this study. The "Groups" feature can be a great tool, but spam-like overuse, or perhaps information overload, can detract as well. What is popular today may be replaced down the road. It wasn't too long ago that AOL's "you've got mail" was heard everywhere and MySpace was the popular social network. For the most part, however, most users find great value in LinkedIn. They view it as the more serious social network.

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