50,000 reasons to be cheerful (and thanks so much)

LinkedIn, in the words of Jeff Weiner its CEO, has set about "connecting the world's professionals, the companies that employ them and the institutions that educate them" and by consequence create the world's first economic graph that gives insight into the world of work through the prism of these connections. This economic graph is full of potential for all its stakeholders as it identifies the supply and demand dynamics of opportunity. Without it opportunity remains hidden and professional and geographic mobility remains restricted. LinkedIn also gives people a voice.

As I write a little over 49,500 members of the LinkedIn community have chosen to follow my Influencer posts (although it's odd that 'influencer' is not in the LinkedIn spell check). It's probable that the 50,000 mark will be achieved some time soon. It's a tiny landmark in the great scheme of social media but not for me.  This group of followers is geographically and professionally diverse. The many thousands in New York and London are no surprise, the 713 in Argentina and 615 in the United Arab Emirates more so. The 8,062 in marketing and advertising is predictable but the combined 4,000 or so in mechanical engineering, defense and space was unexpected. 11,000 entry level followers is a delight, just as much as similar aggregated number of Chief Execs, VPs and business owners.

This diversity is most attractive as I write in the narrowest of business topics, digital marketing and media. It's hardly populist in the manner of '3 things never to say at an interview' and I admit the posts are sometimes long and dense. To all and any of you, thanks. It's gratifying that at least some of you read some of the posts some of the time!

This is part of a wider story and one of the most welcome of our connected times:

• We have have services, utilities even, that connect us socially (Facebook), by interest (Twitter) and of course by professional aspiration (LinkedIn). 
• For the first time we have publishing without borders, without distribution costs and without a mediating editorial filter other than the preferences of our readers. Just as attractively each of those readers can provide comment and feedback to the writers.
• For the first time we have algorithms that help connect us with content that is likely to be of interest to us because of the the information we provide (job, location, industry) or because of our prior behavior. Without these algorithms and the active promotion of LinkedIn's editors I can say, with confidence, that I would be nowhere close to 50,000 followers!
• We have business leaders who are willingly and enthusiastically sharing their insight and sometimes their hopes and dreams beyond the walls of their companies and in so doing reveal to wider communities information about themselves and their companies and in turn give reason to believe in them or the businesses they represent.

As a result of all this every potential employer should be better informed about the universe of people they seek to hire and every potential employee should be better informed about the companies they aspire to work for. Our aggregated participation on LinkedIn means that we have entered a new space of 'passive hiring and passive job seeking'. Self-revelation at both a corporate and individual level creates a new kind of liquidity in the market for talent and happily a tendency towards truth and the need to present our best selves. 

In closing, an anecdote.  I happened to be on LinkedIn at the moment my 30,000th follower showed up. To my surprise the person was a 'holistic beauty therapist' from Ohio. I was surprised so I wrote to ask why they has decided to follow me. I did not get a reply; insight is rarely 20:20 as it turns out. Thanks to her and to all of you, whoever and wherever you are. It's great to be connected. If YOU happen to be number 50,000, expect a note asking you why.