LinkedIn passes two million in SA
2012-12-11 14:25
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Cape Town – Professional networking website LinkedIn, who has more than 187 million members globally, announced it has signed up more than two million South African professionals.
“Two million South African members is an important milestone for us. It shows that South African professionals have truly understood the career potential and the personal development possibilities at the core of the LinkedIn experience,” Fredrik Bernsel, commercial director, partnerships, EMEA, told News24.
“Every day our members add new information to their profiles, share important messages and knowledge, create connections, build their network and get access to a world of potential connections, business partners, investors, employers and employees,” Bernsal added.
Currently there are an estimated 640 million professionals globally and LinkedIn is focused on connecting them all.
LinkedIn’s 187 million members are from over 200 countries. There were nearly 143 million unique visitors in September 2012; making LinkedIn the 25th most visited website in the world.
Professional identity
Members are on LinkedIn to save time, not waste time, Bernsel said.
"According to experts, if professionals spend even nine minutes every day to nurture their career they will be able to learn new things, keep up-to-date with the industry and in turn be better at their jobs."
Bernsel said South Africans use the platform 71% of the time to network with other professionals, 69% to learn about what other colleagues are doing, 54% to stay up to date on industry discussions and 13% to maintain their professional identity.
"Whilst at LinkedIn we focus on the free member, upgrading your LinkedIn profile can add significant benefit. It provides the ability to contact anyone directly with InMail, see more profiles when you search, zero in on profiles with Premium Search Filters.
"Members can also see full profiles of anyone in their network, save important profiles and notes using Profile Organizer, Automate your search with Saved Search Alerts, see names of their 3rd degree and Group connections and get introduced to the companies their targeting," Bernsel said.
LinkedIn has highlighted that continuous career management by allocating a small amount of time every day can make a difference and help professionals in furthering their career.
On mobile, LinkedIn earlier this year launched an iPad app which allows professionals to stay connected and up to date on the latest industry trends, irrespective of where they may be working.
LinkedIn can also help people achieve more in their roles by connecting to others in their industry and sharing expertise and insights.
In addition, LinkedIn Mobile is available across iOS devices, Android, BlackBerry, Microsoft, and mobile web.
Local companies are already using LinkedIn to deliver targeted advertising campaigns to clients and prospects through the company’s Marketing Solutions via LinkedIn’s local partner Habari Media.
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