No, LinkedIn is not approaching a billion active users...
Xavier degrauX
? Consultant & Formateur LinkedIn? senior, augmenté par les data et l'IA ? Incarnons votre entreprise : Thought leadership, Employee advocacy, Marque Employeur, Social recruiting & Social selling ? Ex- journaliste éco
Update November 18, 2023: LinkedIn has removed the total number of members it referenced via its search engine, but it is still possible to add up your 1st, 2nd and 3rd level connections...
962 million this morning, according to the search engine. And still growing...
It's true, LinkedIn will soon cross the billion-member mark.
But be wary of its statistics.
In reality, this only pertains to the number of members, meaning profiles created. Not active members, at least once a month, contrary to the standards in the social network industry (Monthly Active Users, MAU).
It's sad and deceptive, but since its acquisition by Microsoft in June 2016, LinkedIn has revealed almost no relevant statistics about its audience. Nor about its performance.
We only learn, with each release of Microsoft's quarterly results, that the professional social network records growth...
An exceptional survey
So, when I had the opportunity to exclusively delve into the data collected by the Belgian Media Information Center (thanks, CIM!), the LinkedIn trainer and consultant that I am couldn't resist.
For your information, between September 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023, CIM surveyed 6,325 Belgians aged 12 and older about their media consumption. An exceptional qualitative and quantitative sample for Belgium, which included questions about their use of social networks, including LinkedIn.
领英推荐
Relevant numbers
I've compiled all my findings in a blog post (FR). And I've written another specifically about LinkedIn (FR).
Of which here are the two main conclusions:
Compared to the 10 other social networks I've closely studied, LinkedIn has the worst ratio between daily users and monthly users. In other words, it's the platform that, in Belgium at least, retains the fewest users!
Extrapolations
You might be wondering what the "real" LinkedIn numbers are in your country...
Of course, the same kind of survey would need to be conducted to answer as precisely as possible. But it's not forbidden to extrapolate from Belgium to get an idea.
If the ratio between the supposed number of active members and the number of members listed were the same as observed in my country, which is 38.79%:
Quite the differences, right?
6x Founder exited to a market leader ? Now I help Food & Bev founders grow and exit their business with a unique Masterplan
1 年Interesting stats Xavier degrauX what about the growth curve on active users? Is it growing and what % year on year?
Coach - Semi-ferral Copywriter/rédacteur FR & Créateur/concepteur de contenus - Conseiller en création de contenus - Storyteller et Equity Story maker - Narrative designer - World writer. Boomer Gen X. Synectique toc.
1 年Probably, the problem with Linked in is that it has historically been the 'CV' platform. A majority of people come there to drop off a hook, and come back a month later to see if they've caught anything (and often leave disappointed, but actually not that disappointed, it often confirms what they (wrongly) thought)... Then, a minority are there because they've been told (often by HR) that they MUST exist there. And then there are the B2B adventurers like you ("you", the reader of this comment ;-) ) and me who gesticulate here with OR a large smile OR a very serious tie.?
Créateur sketchnote by pvgraphe réseaux sociaux et podcast - Communication durable Cellule Environnement #OddMouscron - Projet formation sketchnote #LivePublic à découvrir via #pvgraphe
1 年Ultimately, the digital continent offers the opportunity to reach a wide range of profiles, but only if they are alive and kicking in the digital space - how do you keep in touch with the silent players on the digital continent? ??
Helping B2B Sales & Marketing Teams Turn LinkedIn into a Lead Generation & Business Growth Engine | Social Selling Expert | International Keynote Speaker| 4x Investor
1 年Interesting stats, thank you for sharing. What is the definition of "attracts X percentage of users"? I mean, do they login only, do they publish, do they scroll or engage? When are you counted for?