14 DAY TRIAL // LinkedIn has finally crossed the 500 million member mark, which is an impressive feat for the professional social network. The last time the company gave us numbers regarding its user base was in October when the number sat at 467 million.
Unlike other social networks, LinkedIn doesn't track monthly users anymore, most likely because it's not exactly the type of network you visit all the time; not for most users, anyway. Facebook recently announced it hit 1.8 billion monthly users, while Twitter's numbers are at 319 million monthly users, both growing constantly, although it's mostly Facebook that manages to do this by leaps and bounds.
LinkedIn also announced that the half-billion members it is now priding itself on are spread out across 200 countries and that users post an average of 100,000 articles each week.
"We're excited to think about the potential of what a highly connected global community of professionals can do," said Aatif Awan, VP of growth and international products for LinkedIn.
A true network for professionals
There are also some 10 million jobs listed on LinkedIn and more than 9 million company profiles, which should aid in getting a clearer picture of what's powering the company.
It was nearly a year ago that Microsoft announced it was acquiring LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, a number that took many by surprise. In the past year, the platform's mobile presence has improved greatly and so has the desktop version of the service. Many upgrades have been implemented, including for features such as messaging, which are vital for any social network, as well as the Open Candidates feature, which enables members to notify recruiters they're job hunting.
LinkedIn's data shows that the United Arab Emirates is the country that has the largest number of contacts, followed by the Netherlands and Singapore, while London is the most connected city, followed by Amsterdam and the San Francisco Bay Area.