Hitwise Intelligence - Heather Hopkins - UK
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October 31, 2006
LinkedIn #2 Social Networking Site for Professionals in the UK
How many emails have you received this week from members of LinkedIn adding you to their profiles? Whilst I haven't quite figured out how to use LinkedIn, my network is growing rapidly and unlike my MySpace network, I actually know most of the contacts in my LinkedIn network. (You can view my LinkedIn profile here.)
Last week, LinkedIn ranked #170 among Net Communities and Chat websites and #44 among Employment & Training websites based on share of UK internet visits on Hitwise. The site has experienced strong growth in the past few months - with its market share of UK internet visits increasing 16% in the past month, 35% in the past three months and 537% in the past 6 months.
I looked through the top 170 Net Communities and Chat websites and LinkedIn was one of only two sites aimed at connecting professionals - the other was ecademy.
LinkedIn usage seems to be closely tied to social networking and job hunting.
- Last week, 5.84% of downstream visits from LinkedIn went to other social networking sites and a further 6.82% went to Employment and Training websites.
- The social networking sites most often visited after LinkedIn last week were FriendsReunited UK, MySpace and Genes Reunited.
- Whilst Monster was the top upstream Employment and Training website sending visits to LinkedIn last week, it was #8 downstream. Exec-Appointments.com, Jobsite UK and Jobserve were the top three downstream Employment and Training sites last week.
LinkedIn also has a different profile of visitor from many other social networking sites - attracting urban professionals.
- 32% of UK visits in the past four weeks coming from visitors in the 25-34 age range.
- Visits are also concentrated in London and the South East. The figure below illustrates that 50% of site visits came from those two regions in the past four weeks.
Posted by Heather Hopkins at 04:41 PM
Posted to Social Networking
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Comments
Excellent research!
Posted by: Geoffrey Hyatt at November 2, 2006 06:53 AM
Heather this is very good research and well presented. I am a big fan of LinkedIN, so maybe I am biased when I comment on your blog. You mentioned ecademy, of which I 'was a member' but I do not believe it is in the same league as LinkedIN. Ecademy tries to be too many things to too many people and attracts criticism from disgruntled users because of this. Having said that I simply got bored with ecademy and have concentrated my efforts at LinkedIN.
Posted by: Nick Price at November 7, 2006 06:20 AM
Nick, Thanks for your comment. I have not used Ecademy myself and it is good to hear from someone that has used the service. Thanks again.
Posted by: Heather Hopkins at November 7, 2006 08:37 AM
I can only agree with Nick. I consider myself a LinkedIn addict. LinkedIn is in my opinion a very much under-utilised tool. I am simply amazed at the number of people in the service industry who are not aware of it.
Posted by: Zia at November 13, 2006 03:51 AM
I also agree with Nick and find LinkedIn to offer an excellent service and an easy way to stay in contact with people you've worked with. While Ecademy seems dated and a larger effort to keep up-to-date.
Posted by: Kev at November 13, 2006 03:49 PM
Agree with comments above and pleased to see growth of linkedin as it's a valuable contact tool. [Ditto Plaxo too]. I was going to invite you to connect but you've got your settings set to avoid intros!
Posted by: David at November 15, 2006 12:34 AM
David - thanks for pointing that out. I set my profile up when I was a sceptic. I just tried to update it - not sure what I need to change. I have it set to accept introductions... I'll send you an invite instead. Thanks! :)
Posted by: Heather Hopkins at November 15, 2006 04:22 AM
