Is LinkedIn A Social Media Network – Or A Job Site?

Are you using LinkedIn today to look for a new job, network, or share your content? LinkedIn is one of those social media networks that many people do not sign into often.

LinkedIn Social Network

Many people sign up, fill out their profiles and connect with others on the Linkedin social network. They don’t go in often to update or check for updates as they may do on Facebook or Instagram. Only 40% of LinkedIn users sign in daily out of the 2 million people that are on the LinkedIn network.

LinkedIn social network

That means 60% do not sign in to check their LinkedIn account.  How often do you check your LinkedIn account?

If you do not check in to LinkedIn social network often, here are some updates you may want to know about today and how LinkedIn compares to job sites.

LinkedIn vs. Other Job Sites

According to a recent Forbes article, job seekers go to Indeed to find information on available roles; they go to LinkedIn to foster professional relationships. Keep this context in mind as you develop a plan for promoting and recruiting for open roles.

The Indeed search engine is a lot more accurate and useful for job seekers than LinkedIn, which could help you find the right people or job.

Other job type site competitors include:

  • Zip Recruiter
  • Glassdoor
  • Monster
  • Ladders
  • Snagajob

LinkedIn Today Updates To Know About

Who’s Viewed Your Profile – You can see who has been viewing your profile. Good to know if you view others’ profiles. They will know it was you.

Who’s Viewed Your Updates – I love this one. Do you think everyone is seeing your updates in their stream? Not so! But it does give you an indication of who and how many are seeing your posts on this social network.

Pulse – The news is just for you in a stream. You can also see which topics on LinkedIn are top posts or discover new topics to explore.

Ads You May Be Interested In – Really? This is interesting! It’s at the bottom right-hand corner of your LinkedIn feed. It gives you choices of viewing ads on the network.

Groups – Are you missing your groups? They can be found under interest now. You will find your same groups there but they may look different.

Self-Publish – Did you know that everyone can now self-publish on LinkedIn today? Just remember it’s like any social network – it’s rented space and not your own as on your blog. The advantage of publishing on this network would be to appear as an expert in your field.  

Video – Video today is hot on LinkedIn just as it is on other social networks. Now, you can even add a video to your profile.

Company Pages – Admin roles and ease of ability to engage in conversations as your company. A great way to brand your company.

I’d love to know if you have used any of these features yet – please let me know in the comments below.

LinkedIn Todays Other Features

They have some of its older features like jobs you might be interested in. LinkedIn will show you jobs based on your profile on the network.

You can make your settings turn this to private so others will not see what you are looking at for jobs. Although beware some may use proxies to obtain the information.

The same setting would apply if you are updating your profile and do not want your network to know about your recent tweaks. I would recommend setting that to private as well.

Groups are still big on LinkedIn. Groups are where you can get to know other like-minded individuals in your niche. They are great to participate in and meet up with in person if they are local.

Sharing – LinkedIn is a great network to share useful links within your niche. You can share images, quotes, links, and more now on this network than ever before.

LinkedIn Premium

Premium Feature – You may also purchase LinkedIn’s premium features to get more out of this network like Full network access – See 35x more profiles and activity with full access to everyone in your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-degree network, get a premium profile to look more professional, in-mail messages.

So you can reach decision-makers if they are NOT in your network, account and lead import from SalesForce and more.

Prices start at $29.99/mo and up for the premium edition of LinkedIn. If you are a job seeker only they have other plans starting at $19.99 to make you rise to the top as a featured applicant.

Read more on why Premium may be for you via Neal Schaffer.

Other LinkedIn Social Network Stats for You

Check out more LinkedIn Today stats below that may convince you to log in more to your account or to have you sign up if you have not already. One hint – If you are looking for a job be sure to have your message notifications ON on your mobile device or log in daily to your account.

You would not want to miss messages for a job interview lined up for you.

You would not want to miss messages for a job interview lined up for you.

  • 39% of LinkedIn users use the premium edition. (via Neal Schaffer.)
  • They now have 830 million active users in 2022. (via Kinsta.)
  • In 2020 content on LinkedIn was shared 50% more! (via Hubspot.)
  • 57% of global users are male. (via Hubspot.)
  • According to Insider Intelligence’s annual “US Digital Trust Survey,” LinkedIn is the most trusted social platform overall. We define digital trust as the confidence users have in a social media platform to protect their information and provide a safe environment for them to create and engage with content. (via eMarketer.)
  • 59% of all users are between the ages of 25 and 34. (via Hootsuite.)

Your Turn

How often are you using LinkedIn Today? Do you believe LinkedIn is a social media networking site or more of a job site?

I’d love to know if you have used the self-publish feature or if you have found a job through LinkedIn.

Lisa Sicard

38 thoughts on “Is LinkedIn A Social Media Network – Or A Job Site?”

  1. Hi Lisa,
    Thanks for the informative post about Linkedin. It’s just a goldmine for the professionals, job seekers, recruiters. I just tried their Premium version (Trial version) for Job seekers and it’s just awesome with all the features. And everyday they guys adding new awesome features to it. Thanks for sharing those linkeding stats, i just pinned it.

    Regards
    Govind Choudhary

  2. Nice article Lisa. LinkedIn can be a monster social media traffic generating channel so long as your niche and marketing message and content all sync up with you and your USP (unique selling proposition). I’ve tested which social channels are responsible for my web traffic using the SimilarWeb site and LI (along with Twitter and G+) are the clear winners. It’s pretty handy to compare you site vs. your competitor’s site when trying to determine which socials are best for your content.

    1. Thank you Neil. It is one of the biggest social networking sites out there so it sure makes sense. And it’s been around I believe the longest of most. Thanks for your input on this one Neil and have a great rest of the week there.

  3. Hi,

    Linkedin seems to be adding some cool features. Earlier when I checked they provided who’s viewed your profile but only for premium accounts. Cool, now anyone can use this feature, also the stats for posts is cool. This way a professional can measure the success of their campaign.

    I just have an account over there as some of my sister is over there.

    Linkedin is indeed the social media for business professionals. I see many employers searching for candidates through Linkedin.

    1. Hi Rohan, I like those stats too Rohan from LinkedIn. The whose viewed your profile is an interesting one as no other social network provides that one. They have come a long way since the beginnings of LinkedIn. Thanks for your input and have a great day!

  4. Hi Lisa,

    I’ve had a similar experience to Adrienne, and only have 458 connection. Admittedly, I do not spend any time on this platform so I could understand there is a potential for growth if I put time into it.

    I was tired of the direct messages that were all basically the same: “I’m glad to connect with you, I love your stuff, check this out…*link to something they’re pushing*”

    I am in a few groups, but not really active there.

    It’s probably my least favorite platform but like I said, I have not put much time or effort into it, so may have to check into it further when a few important projects of mine are completed.

    Thanks for the reminder to make sure my reach is distributed around the ‘Net evenly and that I’m taking advantage of all opportunities on different platforms. Will definitely give this more attention in upcoming months.

    Have a wonderful weekend.
    – Carol

    1. Hi Carol, That’s not so low for the # of connections Carol. Oh yes, if you put no time into it you will not see any benefits either. That’s good only a few groups otherwise it’s too overwhelming and you’d end up never visiting them. What’s the point in that right? You are welcome and do check it out some more when you have the time. Thanks for your comment here Carol and have a great weekend too. So glad it’s here now.

  5. Lisa I recently upgraded to premium. And I do check it daily, if not online, then on my iPhone with their app. One thing I love now is being able to see EVERYONE who is looking at my profile. It helps me decide on “connect or not connect.”

    1. Hi Patricia, how do you like the premium? That must be cool to see EVERYONE vs just a few who view your profile. I’d love to know more on the premium and if it is worth it. Thakns for your input Patricia. Have a great weekend.

  6. Hey Lisa

    I’ve started logging in to all my social networks on a daily basis to try and figure out what they’re all about.

    LinkedIn is one of those that intrigues me because I’ve no idea how to use it really. I joined a few groups a while ago but I’d got absolutely no idea how to access them until tonight!

    Generally I use LinkedIn pretty much in the same way as Jens but I’m hoping to get more out of it by being more active on it.

    I got an email about Self Publish a while ago but as you say it’s rented space and could disappear in the future so I probably won’t be pursuing that option!

    1. Hi Tim, I’m glad you figured out how to access those groups on LinkedIn, they can be powerful. I may try that self publish as I heard it does generate a lot of views and maybe they would head over to blog? I just may do a test soon. Thanks for your input Tim and have a nice weekend ahead.

  7. Great tips Lisa!

    It pains me to have to admit, that pretty much, soon after joining LinkedIn, I pretty much joined the “witness protection program!” LOL!

    Oh sure, every now & again, I’ll briefly check in! But as your highly informative infographic points out. There are a ton reasons for any savvy entrepreneur to be extremely active and engaged on LinkedIn.

    And much of what you revealed in your six features, I definitely need to become a lot more familiar with. Thanks for making me far more aware!

    I really need to be much more active on LinkedIn!

    1. Hi Mark, LOL. Do you find it creepy to see who has viewed your profile? You sound like the average LinkedIn user checking it every now and then. You are welcome and let me know how it goes when you do become more active there Mark. Have a great day!

  8. Lisa, awesome stats you’ve shared. No doubt Linkedin is a powerhouse. Have seen a little positive on one of my article as it chucked up over 3500 page view taking into the fact that I haven’t been pretty active as I should be.

    Your post is a welcome call for me to write another post so as to boost up my connections on the platform. If used properly linkedin can generate you tons of lead . Thanks once again for the awesome share

    1. Hi Peter, that is good to know! What was your article on? And was it only published on LinkedIn or on your blog? Thanks for sharing your experience on LinkedIn with us here Peter. Have a great day.

  9. Hi Lisa; I don’t check in there every day, but usually two or three times a week. There has been a marked increase lately in people wanting to connect, so that’s good. Sharing posts there is not really a habit, but I do sometimes. While I did join a couple of groups, finding the time to interact has been a problem, so far. Thanks for the great tips! I didn’t realize Linkedin had that much to offer.

    1. Hi Debbie, How long have you been on LinkedIn? I do share some stuff via the Buffer to LinkedIn. Oh yes, so so many groups. I joined a bunch of groups in the beginning but am only activie on a few now. Too many places to be, right? You are welcome Debbie, have a great day ahead.

  10. Hi Lisa,

    I better start using LinkedIn more often. I’m one of those who just accept people who are following me, I read the email from LinkedIn telling me who’s viewing my profile and then I just publish the link to new posts. That’s it.

    Great post about the features, and I can see why using it better can benefit me and my business.

    1. Hi Jens, that’s not a bad way of using it. At least you get the emails and alerts. Some people don’t pay attention to those. But of course there is more to it and like any network the more you use it the more beneficial it becomes. Thanks for your comment Jens and have a great rest of the week there.

  11. Hi Lisa,

    I used LinkedIn on a weekly basis. I’m busy with clients, my blog, twitter and Facebook, and I also use Google Plus a bit here and there, so LinkedIn has suffered a bit on my front.

    I do like the serious business folk on the network, those who don’t tolerate spamming in groups, but I’ve felt it’s been difficult to put the time in to make connections with me spending so much time on other social networks.

    I’m just checking now and I don’t even think I’ve updated my new blog. Time to spend a few minutes on the network.

    Thanks for giving me a little nudge Lisa.

    I’ll tweet this out in a few.

    Ryan

    1. Hi Ryan, I do login most days but I don’t spend a lot of time on it – maybe 5-10 minutes. I use Twitter the most. Even Facebook I’m not everyday. Funny thing – friends and family always say did you see this post or that post and I’m like “No, I don’t spend a lot of time on it…” They don’t understand why I prefer Twitter over Facebook. I’m in a couple of groups in LinkedIn and enjoy them, there is one marketing local group that I’ve gone to events and met the people. Those are fun. You are welcome Ryan. Have a wonderful day in Fiji today!

  12. Hi Lisa,

    It’s pretty amazing to know about LinkedIn.

    I not an user of LinkedIn but like to know more about it.

    People always get curious to know about who have visited their their profile? How about their posts?

    It’s really a great website to use and connect with people.

    I would surely use it.

    Thanks for telling me Lisa.

    Hope you are having fun this weekend.:)

    ~Ravi

    1. Ravir, it quite easy to chuck up more connections in linkedin if you interact, share post and write an awesome article. Have written only about 3 articles and I most say it has been great so far. One thing you need to note though is that for your article to get credible views you need to look out for those post that are popular and craft one in that form.

      This is a great way to to start. If not one can create article on article with little or no views.

    2. Hi Ravi, will you be signing up for LinkedIn now Ravi? Oh yes, people do get curious and now it shows you who viewed your profile. You know if they see your posts too, I like how it shows you by percentage of those. You are welcome and let me know if you do sign up or have more questions Ravi. Have a great rest of the week!

      1. Hi Lisa,

        I will surely let you know when I will sign up for LinkedIn.

        Thanks you Lisa for being so supportive.:)

        Enjoy your week.

        ~Ravi

  13. Hey Lisa,

    I’ve really tried to use LinkedIn to the best of my ability but I just do not like that platform. Granted, I was in corporate America for over 30 years so I know how important it is to connect with others who are also searching for jobs. LinkedIn is a great place to find companies to work with and who may be searching for your service.

    I only have 458 connections and I get new requests practically every day but I don’t know why if I’m honest. The majority of them aren’t interested in what I do, I think for them it’s about the numbers which is why my connections are so low. I don’t connect with all of them, I ignore most of them.

    I keep hearing from people who just love it but what they offer is way different then what I offer. Not every platform is the same as we both know so although I do know they’ve made some improvements, it’s still my least favorite of them all. Okay, maybe Pinterest would be my least but this one is second. I can at least email people on this one although they never respond. LOL!!!

    I’m probably a big part of the majority Lisa so glad you wrote about their changes. I just haven’t paid much attention to them.

    Hope you are having a really great day and enjoy your week too.

    ~Adrienne

    1. Very interesting Adrienne. Have you joined any of the groups? Like the blogging groups? (You probably have)….I like a couple of the groups I am in but it’s like any network you can’t really participate in every group that looks good. (Been there, done that…) What type of things do the others offer that you don’t on that platform? You got me curious. Thanks for your input Adrienne on this one. The week is going okay so far, I hope yours is too!

  14. Hi Lisa,

    LinkedIn is my favorite social media platform. Primarily because I’m a B2B company and my target audience hangs out there.

    I am involved heavily in several groups, I like and comment on my followers posts on the wall, and I connect with people’s blogs and comment and share frequently. I also publish a weekly article.

    LinkedIn has done wonders for my business. I not only get traffic to my site and blog but I also get requests to speak and offers to put in proposals on websites or offers to coach companies.

    It’s been a great experience! And, I’ve never once paid for the premium service. But if it came down to LI and FB, I would pay for LinkedIn.

    I hope you have a great week Lisa!

    ~ Don Purdum

    1. Hi Don, finally someone who self publishes – glad to hear it. Do you keep them shorter than your own blog posts? How do they differ? I’m very curious about them. I love groups there too but only am active in 1 or 2. That’s great about the requests you get from LinkedIn. I have had job offers through it myself. I hope we don’t HAVE to pay for any of the social networks. That’s why they have ads on them, right? Thanks for your additional info to this post and for my readers Don. Have a wonderful day.

  15. Lisa, great post. I learned more from it than I learned from being on LinkedIn for over two years. Is this a hint about your next ebook??

    I confess: I deleted my LinkedIn account. I didn’t login once a month, nevermind once a day. I just didn’t get it. Apart from your great primer, I still don’t get it in the context of my business. Also, I tend to look at it as one more thing to do. I don’t need that. I’ve got enough to do!

    Peace. ~Ellen

    1. Hi Ellen, LOL, I didn’t that would be my next eBook, but who knows right? Things do have a strange way of working sometimes. Oh no, why did you delete it? Oh yes, I know that feeling of how many networks can we be in actively right? It certainly isn’t easy. Thanks for your input Ellen on this one. Have a great peaceful day there!

  16. Happy Monday Lisa!

    It’s been a while since I’ve been on LinkedIn. As a matter of fact I had recently updated my profile but in looking at what drives traffic to my blog, LinkedIn is no where near it.

    It could be that I haven’t shared anything in a while there so I’m tempted to do a little survey there. :). I like that I can see who’s viewed my profile. Before we had to upgrade to see the entire list. I also like the self publishing feature. I’ll have to look into that more.

    Thanks for sharing the infographic. Love this one!

    Have a great new week!

    1. Hi Corina, and I’m responding on the same day (finally!) Oh yes, if you haven’t shared anything there how would you generate anything on it, right? I wonder about those who self-publish, it’s great to share expertise there but yet it is rented space. So how much does one share on rented space when it could be on your own blog? Just random thoughts:) You are welcome and I hope you have a smooth week ahead Corina.

  17. Great info Lisa! Surprisingly, I would have thought the stats on those on LinkedIn would have been more than 33%. I have the app on my phone and check at least weekly. Sometimes I’ll even go on the web. I’m in a few groups for my writing and do find them helpful. I’m also very careful with what I share out there. I don’t want to share my posts on menstruation or anything like that. What would my employer think?

    Love the info Lisa! Passing it along!

    1. Hi Bren, thank you. I would have thought more than 33% of the people on LinkedIn would have been looking for a job and want to log in daily to see the latest offers and openings. I do log in almost daily during the week. Not always on the weekends. Oh yes, me too – I am very careful what I share there on LinkedIn. I do not let my tweet stream be set up automatically into LinkedIn or anywhere’s for that matter. Thanks for commenting Bren and sharing your experience with us. Have a great rest of the week – Monday’s almost done!

  18. Hi Lisa,

    Loved those stats.

    I guess I come under those 60% who don’t visit their LinkedIn profiles daily – just fall short of time and it’s tough to be all over, all the time, though I do try as and when time permits.

    The profile views were there earlier too I think, though the self publishing option is something new and I’ve read a few posts from people, it looks very similar to a post in MS Word and it can do well if you want to showcase your work or talent. Still need to do lots more, though I am part of a number of groups, but unless you actively participate, you miss out on a lot.

    Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead.

    BTW – I think the CommentLuv isn’t working presently.

    1. Hi Harleena, Yes they were quite interesting I thought. I try to log in Monday-Friday at least. I once missed an important message so I won’t let that happen again. I had too many notifications on the phone to turn them on. I do participate in one local marketing group and went to an event a few months back. I hope to do more of them. You are right though – you do have to remain active there. What happened with the CommentLuv? Thanks for heads up.

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