What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network on the internet. It is a platform to find jobs, strengthen company relationships and learn new skills needed in your career. To engage with this site, you create a free online profile with which people can view and engage. Businesses use this site to share awareness of their business and encourage customers to have a more personal engagement with them one-on-one. It also allows them to look for new employees and ensure they are up to date on all their skills. This site is very different from Facebook and Instagram. Linked in is mainly based on businesses and those looking for work.
When was LinkedIn created, and why?
Reid Hoffman Credit Wikimedia Commons
LinkedIn was created in 2002 by Allen Blue, Eric Ly, Reid Hoffman, Jean-Luc Valliant and Konstantin Guercke. The team started the idea behind LinkedIn in Reid Hoffman’s living room.
“We’re here to build a business, not to create something cool. Myspace and Facebook have done really well. And I think they can monetize what they have built, probably by adding in more e-commerce. But I think the opportunity on the business side is ultimately larger.”
This is the resoning Reid Hoffman belived likedIn was created. In simpler terms those that created LinkedIn wanted there to be a platform specifically for businesses to build connections with eachother in a proffessional way. LinkedIn has now become the biggest site for businesses by creating new opertunities and helping people find jobs by having dirrect contact with different businesses.
Key moments in LinkedIn history
2002 – Hoffman, Blue, Ly, Valliant and Guercke created LinkedIn.
2003 – LinkedIn was made Public and managed to have over 4,500 people join the site within the first month.
August 2004 – 1 Million people had an account on LinkedIn.
2004 – After so many users on the site, it was decided that it would be convenient to have specific business accounts. Rather than trying to capture all businesses, they used it to help and support those smaller businesses. To do so, they created a particular platform on the site for small businesses to engage with each other. This platform enabled small businesses to get advice from each other and support each other safely and professionally.
2005 – Two new features were introduced to LinkedIn. On the site, you could now subscribe to each other’s pages. This feature was a great way to boost the different businesses and get them noticed. Jobs was the second feature to be introduced. It was now possible on LinkedIn to hunt for a job and publicise job adverts.
March 2006 – March was the first month LinkedIn received a profit. This may surprise some, but I feel it highlights their dedication and comment to the site. Even though it took three years to see any profit, they never lost faith in their vision and the site.
April 2007 – 10 Million people and businesses were on LinkedIn.
February 2008 – LinkedIn decided to expand and become a mobile app as well as a desktop site. A mobile app meant they could reach more people and modernise with society.
2008 – LinkedIn has always been very popular in the US. However, in 2008, they decided to shift their focus and try and expand the site worldwide. The first international office was based in London, with the following two being in Spain and France.
2009 – In 2009, with the mobile app in full swing, the number of users had reached over 55 million.
2011 – After it took six years to have 50 million users, in 2011, they gained another 50 million in just that year. This demonstrated the direction they were taking the site, and all the improvements worked. LinkedIn receiving so many users this year meant the total number of users going into
2012 – There was roughly 186 million.
June 2016 – Microsoft joined with LinkedIn for $26.2 billion.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
April 2017 – over 500 million people were using LinkedIn worldwide.
2022 – Since 2017, LinkedIn hasn’t changed too significantly. You can now look for jobs, have interviews and recruit all within the site. The design hasn’t changed drastically; it is still a modernised site that is easily navigated and used.
Conclusion
Kevin Hoffman has definitely got his wish. LinkedIn is the biggest platform for businesses today. It is a site and mobile app that allows companies to collaborate and support each other in a professional atmosphere. Many businesses have been helped significantly by their account on LinkedIn.
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