Sir Richard Branson Is the First with 1 Million Followers on LinkedIn

The well-known billionaire Richard Branson has become the first to reach one million followers on LinkedIn. The number itself would have been impressive a few years ago, but the most popular people on Twitter or Facebook have tens of millions of fans.

Still, it's a milestone for the professional social network and the fact that the revered entrepreneur and adventurer was the first to get so many followers is a great example of just why LinkedIn is different.

That said, the way LinkedIn handles followers is different from the one on other social networks. For one, its reserved to a small group of people which LinkedIn calls "influencers."

LinkedIn says that in the two months since the program was introduced, users have started six million follow relationships. This makes the one million that Branson got even more impressive. Barack Obama is the runner-up with half as many people following him.