Review of LinkedIn : Why Create A LinkedIn Account?

LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. As of 22 March 2011 (2011 -03-22)^[update], LinkedIn reports more than 100 million registered users, spanning more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. The site is available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Quantcast reports Linkedin has 21.4 million monthly unique U.S. visitors and 47.6 million globally.

Here are some of the most intriguing stats from LinkedIn’s infographic:

• 56% of LinkedIn’s users are outside of the United States. LinkedIn is experiencing its fastest growth internationally.
• LinkedIn’s fastest-growing country is Brazil, with 428% growth year-over-year. Brazil is followed by Mexico, India and France.
• The height of LinkedIn activity happens during the workday, peaking at around noon. Mobile usage, on the other hand, typically peaks around 8:00 p.m.
• There are almost 1 million teachers on LinkedIn; 20% of the site’s users work in the service sector, while 9% work in finance and another 9% are in the high-tech industry.

LinkedIn in is the Facebook for business and business people. LinkedIn allows you to connect with your work friends, old colleagues and you can see where they work and where they have been.
LinkedIn is your online Resume or C.V which showcases your abilities and recommendations.

You can connect with your old uni friends and find out where they have worked and where they are now. This can be a great tool if you are a sales person and want to approach a company but don’t know where to start. You would be surprised how many people are connected, currently 20 million people are on LinkedIn and one person signs up every second, and how many people know each other.

Therefore I’m giving you the top 5 reasons why you need a LinkedIn account:

1. Expand your network significantly and create more work opportunities by joining groups and discussions on various topics that you are interested in.
2. Showcase your work experience, but more important, your work achievements and recommendations from your work colleagues and clients.
3. Let other companies headhunt, and contact you, faster and more accurately.
4. Find out where your friends work or who works at a better company and get directly introduced by one of your network contact.
5. Keeping up with the new options that are being added on a regular basis. Sync it with TripIt, PowerPoint’s, Amazon, twitter or your personal blog.