LINKEDIN: COMMUNITIES BUILD BY TRUST
Our today’s go-to professional connections buddy- LINKEDIN says it all when it comes to building a strong and trustworthy community!
Founded in 2003 by REID HOFFMAN, this networking platform is known to have transformed the professional lives of people. Today, it has managed to catch about 740 Million users across 200 Countries.
Amazing stats, right? But, its journey wasn’t a hunky-dory ride. On some days, this portal has struggled to even get 20 sign-ups. But the reason behind its robust success lies at the heart of its vision and dedication.
San Francisco Bay Area was its initial target and somehow, by the end of 2004, it managed to get 150000 users. But, Hoffman had different plans. He introduced some astounding improvisations like paid subscriptions, job features, etc. and this undoubtedly was a great hit that finally got 5 MILLION subscribers by 2005.
Next, he made around 26 pitches but managed to get only two- one from Nokia and the other from Sequoia. Reid didn’t want to stop and decided to expand across the European markets.
This helped him set up his first International office in the UNITED KINGDOM. The swing was quite difficult till then, apart from the two clear roadblocks- Consumer Perspective and Organizational Acumen. It was then, that he felt the need for a CEO for sustained growth.
That’s when JEFF WEINER fitted the bill. His experience was unsurprisingly a boon- 4 years from his appointment, it was a tenfold increase in the revenue, a 50% hike in the hiring domain. That’s when LINKEDIN had its transformation from a SOCIAL PLATFORM to a SOCIAL MARKETPLACE.
The expansion of the revenue strains led to another major transition from a career portal to a multi-specialty professional platform. Down the line, 19 May 2011 was a historic day when it finally went PUBLIC, the share prices skyrocketed by 150%, and revenue experienced a hike of 700 times more than the earnings from the last 12 months.
The next remarkable achievement was in the year 2016 which marked the marriage of LINKEDIN & the world’s largest professional network- MICROSOFT. The company was valued at a whopping USD 26.2 BILLION.
LinkedIn’s user base then, grew by nearly 50% and generated USD 6.8 BILLION (28% higher). Later, Facebook and Google tried to acquire it but LinkedIn chose to be ONE OF A KIND!
Today, with more than 55 Million companies listed on the site and 14 Million open jobs, it’s not surprising to believe that 87% of recruiters regularly use LINKEDIN. Studies have also found that 122 Million people received an interview through it with 35.5M of them being hired. This means that while you are reading this, 3 people already got HIRED!
The trust that it has gained over the years makes its journey of- JOBS? LINKEDIN!- unsurprisingly notable and exemplary.