I had the pleasure of attending an exclusive event for Linkedin members in Vancouver this past week. The event was hosted by Linkedin Canada at the Coast Harbor Hotel and focused on providing select members with a opportunity to meet with a representative from Linkedin to provide feedback on the platform and to share best practice ideas.
Our host/presenter was Danielle Restivo (Linkedin – Manager, Corporate Communications – Brazil & Canada). Attendees were greeted at the door by Danielle and had the opportunity to network with other Linkedin members before starting the formal presentation and open forum. The attendees represented a wide range of roles and industries including recruiters, consultants, speakers and even a couple of CEO's looking to find out how to further leverage Linkedin for their business.
All attendees were given a gift bag that included some Linkedin swag (check out the Linkedin M&M's!) and some tips on how to optimize your profile. If you are looking for some basic starter tips on how to build a stronger Linkedin profile, check out the other article I wrote titled: “10 Linkedin Tips To Build A Stronger Profile“.
New Linkedin Statistics
Danielle began the presentation by providing some updated Linkedin Statistics. Here are some of the key stats that stood out above the rest:
- There are currently 120+ Million members on Linkedin
- There are now 2 new members added to Linkedin every 1 second.
- There are 4+ Million Linkedin members in Canada
- There are 44+ Million members in the United States
- The greatest year over year increase in Linkedin members has being seen in Brazil (428%), Mexico (178%) and India (76%)
New Linkedin Features
Danielle also reviewed some of the new features on Linkedin that have been rolled out over the past few weeks. Here are just a few of those new features and the value they provide:
Linkedin Skills
Linkedin Skills allows you to choose from a database of skills to highlight on your Linkedin profile. Not only do these skills make your profile more searchable, the application also allows you to find other people that you can mirror your profile after and suggests groups that you might be interested in joining based on your unique skills.
Linkedin Today
Linkedin Today delivers the top headlines that your contacts are sharing on Linkedin and Twitter. You can follow the industries and sources you care about and the new feature allows you to narrow down the results based on your own personal interests.
Linkedin Mobile App (iPhone & Android)
This was a nice surprise to see as I wasn't aware that Linkedin had come out with a new app for the iPhone. In all honesty, I hadn't used the Linkedin app much in the past because it had a nasty tendency to crash frequently and didn't seem to provide enough value to make me want to come back on a regular basis.
Here are a few of the improved Linkedin Mobile App features:
- Updates: View updates from your network and top news from LinkedIn Today
- Inbox: You can view your invitations and messages in one place
- You: Access your profile, connections, share updates, and even more in the future
- Groups & More: Browse and interact with your groups, as well as build your network through our People You May Know feature
The new Linkedin app is very nicely designed, loads up fast and includes many new features . At first glance, I think this app will become one of my new favorites on the iPhone. The biggest value I see being the ability to quickly pull up someone's profile to either research their background before a meeting or to connect with them on the spot.
A big thanks goes out to Linkedin for providing an opportunity to meet directly with the key people that are helping shape the future direction of their platform. It is refreshing to see that a social network as large as Linkedin values the opinion and feedback of it's members and provides these opportunities for members to voice their opinions.
Are you using Linkedin to it's fullest potential? If not, let me know in the comments below the areas you'd like help with and I'll address them in future articles!
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