Image source: LinkedIn.
LinkedIn (LNKD +0.00%) enjoys a unique position in the world of social networking. Unlike its personal-oriented peers, LinkedIn is all about business and making professional connections. This has set the company apart in a meaningful way, and LinkedIn's differentiation isn't going away anytime soon. Consumers like separating their personal and work lives, and no one wants to wade through ever-changing privacy settings manually.
This also affords LinkedIn another advantage: Its business is built on connecting companies to potential employees. The company's largest operating segment generates revenue by utilizing user data to help companies find the right talent. Members can also subscribe to premium plans that give them an edge in the hunt for a job, and LinkedIn also has a relatively smaller advertising business as well. LinkedIn discloses its member numbers based on four geographical segments: U.S., Other Americas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), and APAC (Asia-Pacific).
As of the most recent quarter, LinkedIn had over 396 million registered members.
LinkedIn members | Create column charts
Here is a breakdown of LinkedIn's membership base since mid-2013, when it began disclosing its members based on geographical location.
|
Quarter |
U.S. |
Other Americas |
EMEA |
APAC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Q3'13 |
89.4 |
44.7 |
79 |
46.1 |
|
Q4'13 |
94.1 |
47.6 |
85.7 |
49.4 |
|
Q1'14 |
99.4 |
51 |
92.8 |
53.2 |
|
Q2'14 |
103.8 |
54.1 |
98.9 |
56.6 |
|
Q3'14 |
108.1 |
57.3 |
105 |
61.1 |
|
Q4'14 |
111.4 |
59.7 |
110.7 |
65 |
|
Q1'15 |
115.6 |
62.6 |
116.7 |
69 |
|
Q2'15 |
119.2 |
65.3 |
122.3 |
73 |
|
Q3'15 |
122.3 |
67.8 |
127.4 |
78.8 |
Source: SEC filings. Member figures in millions.
It's worth noting that LinkedIn's member figures are reported in a different way than other social networks. Other companies typically report monthly active users, but LinkedIn focuses on registered members, independent of how active they are. That being said, LinkedIn does report unique visiting members, which are defined identically as monthly active users. While LinkedIn certainly wants engagement to be high, as measured by unique visiting members, its business is relatively less reliant on traffic compared to its peers. Still, it would like to keep members coming back to update their data and contribute to its data ecosystem.
As of the most recent quarter, LinkedIn had 100 million unique visiting members, and 55.2 million mobile unique visiting members.
