Do you love to go to business networking events? What do you do when you realize you have little to nothing in common with those around you? Do you get rid of your business cards and leave the party?
I’ve attended a few business networking events myself. Whether I was in Europe, USA, Asia, or Australia, the overall behavior was quite similar. Lots of these events were fake, futile and a waste of time.
The social web has added new aspects to business networking. Whether it’s Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn or Twitter you can find and connect with people from all over the world who share the same interests and hobbies as you do.
Here’s an example…
I’m a passionate scuba diver. If I want to connect with other divers I can go to LinkedIn and join a scuba diving group (I’m in three groups currently).
Say I’m planning my next trip to the Maldives and I want to gather proper information from divers who have already been to the Maldives. The members of the LinkedIn group who love to share their insights and experience with fellow divers (this is often the case) will provide a ton of awesome tips. Apart from that you can hop on to Skype or even go out and grab a coffee if one of the members happens to be from your town. That’s authentic. This is where real relationships start.
Certainly this applies to other businesses and industries too.
Why LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is an awesome place to connect and network with professionals worldwide. With more than 300 million users and over 3 million businesses, you can use this leading social networking platform to target potential clients and grow your business and network. Remember, your network is your net worth.
As with any other social media platform, you should keep your profile up to date, join groups of like-minded people and build relationships prior to selling.
LinkedIn facts and statistics
To dive deeper into LinkedIn’s demographics, the company WeRSM has created a handy infographic revealing the latest LinkedIn facts and statistics.
Other stats were sourced from Expandedramblings.com and LinkedIn’s quarterly report.
- LinkedIn was launched on May 5, 2003.
- The company went public in May 19, 2011.
- LinkedIn has 332 million members.
- 64% of LinkedIn users are outside the US. 107 million users are in the US alone.
- 2 new users join every second.
- One in three professionals on the planet are on LinkedIn.
- A user spends on average 17 minutes per month on LinkedIn.
- The average number of connections on LinkedIn is 930.
- 41% of users visit LinkedIn via mobile.
- 56% of members are male and 44% are female.
- If you include a photo you can increase your LinkedIn views by 11 times.
- 13% of LinkedIn users don’t have a Facebook account.
- 59% of LinkedIn users don’t visit Twitter and 83% don’t use Pinterest.
- 41% of millionaires use LinkedIn.
- Net revenue for the 3rd quarter was $568 million; that’s a 45% increase from Q3/ 2013 ($393 million USD).
How are you using LinkedIn?
What LinkedIn facts and statistics surprised you most?
Image: Canva
