[24-05-26] LinkdIn's evolution from job board to social media platform

LinkedIn has long been an essential tool for job seekers, widely recognized in the U.S. for its utility even among high school students. While initially a platform focused on professional networking and job hunting, LinkedIn is now undergoing a significant transformation to become a more interactive and engaging social media space.

 

Current Reach and Statistics

LinkedIn's impact on the job market is immense. The platform hosts 67 million companies and sees 65 million job searches weekly. As of 2023, every second, 10 job applications are submitted through LinkedIn, with a hire occurring every six seconds. Moreover, 95% of hiring managers use LinkedIn to identify potential candidates.

 

LinkedIn's Business Model

LinkedIn generates substantial revenue from its talent solutions and premium subscriptions. In the fiscal year 2023, LinkedIn's revenue reached $15 billion, with $7 billion derived from talent solutions alone. Premium subscriptions offer additional functionalities, such as direct messaging recruiters and accessing detailed job insights, catering to various user needs, from job seekers to hiring managers.

 

User Engagement and Challenges

Despite a large user base of 1 billion, only 16% of LinkedIn users engage with the platform daily, and less than 50% engage monthly. Users spend an average of just 17 minutes per month on LinkedIn, primarily for job-related activities. This low engagement level highlights a critical challenge for LinkedIn as it seeks to increase user interaction and time spent on the platform.

 

Strategies to Increase Engagement

To address these challenges, LinkedIn is leveraging generative AI to create collaborative articles. This initiative involves LinkedIn inviting users with relevant expertise to contribute to AI-generated articles, enhancing user interaction and content richness. The response has been positive, with over 10 million contributions in one year, significantly boosting user engagement.

 

Influencer and Thought Leadership

LinkedIn has introduced a "thought leader advertising program" to monetize influencers with substantial followings. This program allows companies to identify and partner with influencers for promotional activities. Agencies now manage LinkedIn influencers, underscoring the platform's growing importance in the influencer marketing landscape.

 

New Features and Innovations

To further increase engagement, LinkedIn is experimenting with short-form video content akin to TikTok, focusing on career and professional topics. Additionally, LinkedIn has introduced daily puzzle games to encourage user participation. These games foster competition among users based on their workplace or alma mater, aiming to make LinkedIn a more engaging and enjoyable platform.

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Q1. Do you use Linkedin service? If so, for what reasons and how often do you use it?


I once tried to use LinkedIn when I was looking for a new job to broaden my insights and find job opportunities. There are many job-seeking platforms (Official Page, 자소설닷컴, 사람인, 원티드, etc.). However, they don't have all the hiring information.

To get more job hiring information, LinkedIn was one of the tools I used.

As for how often I use LinkedIn, it would say it was few hours. After searching for the requirements companies need and successfully getting into a new company, I stopped using LinkedIn and even deleted the app because the notifications were annoying.



Q2. Do you think a gaming feature would help increase the time spent on LinkedIn?

No, there are many alternatives for spending our time, such as YouTube, TikTok, and other high-quality games. Only a few people would be interested in LinkedIn games, similar to the basic games on Windows OS.



Q3. What new feature do you think will help to increase spending time on LinkedIn?

Anonymous communities like Reddit and Blind allow users to seek not only official information from companies but also internal information.

Users can obtain job-related details as well as insights into internal issues and experiences based on anonymity.

The benefits of anonymous communities include enabling users to speak freely about sensitive topics and company culture without fear.

If LinkedIn had its own anonymous community, it might have synergy.

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Reference

https://www.theverge.com/24145605/linkedin-gaming-puzzle-game-nyt-wordle-netflix-games

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7nqOeziN7U&t=632s&ab_channel=%ED%8B%B0%ED%83%80%EC%9E%84%EC%A6%88TV