LinkedIn Demographics: Metrics in Action
More than 30 million people use LinkedIn, widely-regarded as one of the more well-know social networking site for white-collar professionals, but until now, most marketers didn’t know exactly who those users were. They do now. According to Ad Age, in the first public study of LinkedIn’s demographics and pyschographics, completed by Anderson Analytics, Linked In, and SPSS, LinkedIn has become a tool for information workers to find jobs, network with other business people, and keep in touch with old collegaues.
According to the survey, 30% (9 million) of LinkedIn users are savvy networkers who earn nearly $93,500 per year and have a work puchase-power of $88,000. This group earns a “great” in social networking influence; 69% read blogs, and 9% maintain their own blogs. They are most likely to use Gmail and visit technews sites like Slashdot.
The next largest group, clocking in at 28% (8.4 million), are senior executives earning a mean of just over $104,000 per year with a purchasing power at work of $99,000. Most of this group is happily employed and uses LinkedIn for business contact networking. This group skews male, and more likely to visit news sites like Fox News.
The third largest group, accounting for 22% (6.2 million), use LinkedIn because friends convinced them to join. This group is careful about who they connect to, and only connect to people they know in person. They earn nearly $88,000 per year and have a purchasing power of work of $76,000.
The smallest group that uses LinkedIn, accounting for 21% (6.1 million), are the hard-core job searchers. Seventy percent of this group is employed full-time but actively looking for another position. Of all four groups, this one skews the youngest and most female (52%). They earn just over $87,500 per year and have a work purchasing power of $84,000.
To gather this data, researchers sampled 70,000 members and surveyed a sample of 800 with a 10-minute online questionairre.
By Robert Pothier