Having already looked at how LinkedIn has grown over the last eight years,  we thought it would be interesting to look at the growth of LinkedIn in comparison to another online networking giant – Facebook – as well as in relation to Internet use in the more general sense.

Whilst LinkedIn’s growth has been continuous, the rate at which this growth is occurring has been in decline since 2007. This trend is in fact similar to both that of Facebook and also the Internet:

LinkedIn’s decrease in growth is not unexpected as saturation points are often seen within original/initial launch markets. In fact, when comparing the decline in growth across the three areas, LinkedIn’s user decrease correlates to that of the Internet, whereas Facebook has seen a rather more rapid decline.

What is interesting, though, is if you track growth for the first quarter this year and compare it to the previous two years growth, as this indicates that there will be a return to growth, not only for LinkedIn but also for both Internet use and Facebook too.

This is a bold prediction, specifically when news reports in June this year suggested that in developed markets, such as the USA, UK, Canada and Russia, there has been a loss in users month-on-month for Facebook.

So where will these new users come from? Eric Eldon, editor of Inside Network, which includes Inside Facebook was quoted in The Guardian saying that:

“…by the time Facebook reaches around 50% of the total population in a given country (plus or minus, depending on internet access rates in that country), growth generally slows to a halt … So far, Facebook has been able to make up stalls and losses with big gains in heavily populated developing countries like Mexico, Brazil, India and Indonesia.”

Eldon’s words actually apply to LinkedIn too and recent figures on LinkedIn’s own blog highlighted Brazil, Mexico and India as markets with the fastest growth rates.

Indeed, overall, global memberships – free and paid for – on LinkedIn grew to 115.8 million in second quarter of this year, up 61% on 2010. By contrast, Facebook, which is also said to be mooting an IPO, has more than 750 million members.

Our next post, as part of our LinkedIn Week series, will look at the top 10 companies on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn has changed the online landscape for employers and employees alike. The growth rate since LinkedIn launched eight years ago has been phenomenal and it now has a user base of over 100 million people.

Given that LinkedIn is now the world’s largest  online professional network, we thought it would be interesting to look at the growth, current use and future direction of LinkedIn, as well as how brands and business can, and are, using if effectively. So this  week is LinkedIn week here at FreshNetworks and over the next five days we’ll be blogging about all things LinkedIn in the run up to a free report which will be available to download on Friday.

LinkedIn’s growth to date

(A full, high resolution version of this chart will be available in the final report on Friday 12th August).

Since its launch back in May 2003, the exceptional increase in the number of users on LinkedIn has been largely due to continuous platform development and the roll out of new features.

According to its recent ‘Growth Filing Report’ released on 27th June 2011, LinkedIn had hit the 90 million user mark at the end of 2010; already by the end of Q1 2011, user numbers had gone beyond the 100 million mark.

Aside from the growth in users, LinkedIn has also recently announced a revenue increase – 120% up year on year to $121m (£74m) in the three months to June. Profit was also up to $4.5m (£2.8m), compared to $4.3m (£2.6m) in the previous year.

Our next post will look at the growth of LinkedIn in comparison to Facebook.

There are a lot of community platforms on the market today and we thought it would be useful to collate a complete list of them.

Please let us know if there are any tools missing from the list – think of this as a kind of “wiki” which we will add to over time. We hope it will eventually become a useful community platform tool resource.

• Drupal – Drupal open source content management system can be used for everything from personal blogs to enterprise applications. You can also build websites and use their “Pagebuild” option which enables non technical users to build their website quickly and easily.
• Get Satisfaction - a cost effective platform for SME business solutions.
• Jive – In addition to being a community platform, Jive ‘Engage’ offers collaboration software and social media monitoring.
• Joomla – Open source and one of the most widely used, with an extensive existing community. It enables you to build websites and powerful online applications.
• Kickapps – Everything built on the KickApps platform is powered from the same database of users and content, making it easy to create integrated experiences across your site, mobile app, Twitter, Facebook and more. That means you can update every single KickApps-powered experience from one place, keeping everything consistent and up to date, no matter how or where the audience accesses your content
• Liveworld – They specialise in Facebook Wall, Facebook Forums, Facebook interactive tabs. LiveWorld offers a series of applications and platforms designed to stimulate more conversation and engagement with customers. Comes in more than 60 country/language combinations.
• Lithium – available in 19 languages and dialects. It plugs customers into one powerful network by creating opportunities for them to engage in a community on your own site and connect to other social customers through Facebook and Twitter.
• Mzinga – Cloud based community platform enabling you to embed apps and create private/public communities.
• Ning – claims to be the world’s largest platform for community site building, offering an easily customised structure that can include a real time chat feature. It can also be integrated with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to create a digital hub.
• php-nuke - open source and despite being one of the older, more traditional platforms, it still has a rapidly increasing market-share.
• Pligg – offers an unlimited number of authors and the ability to add modular plugins to the platform according to your needs and desired social networks.
• Telligent – Evolution platform which allows for scalability and integration with existing software programmes.

Additions to the list since the post was made:

• EPiServer Relate – allows you to segment visitors based on location, interests or other profile data, meaning you can personalise each user’s experience to show them relevant articles, content or adverts.
• Social Engine – social network software that helps you build your own customized community websites.
• BuddyPress – Open source, out-of-the-box software to help build your own social network.
• IGLOO – SaaS-based enterprise social networking company. Managed solely in the cloud, IGLOO unites document management, web content management, collaboration and social features in one integrated suite.

Online community moderation company Community 102 recently published an interesting infographic which looked at how different age groups interact online across the social web.

Key takeaways include:

• When it comes to age distribution across the social web, the most active age range is 35-44 year olds (25%) in comparison to just 9% of 18-24 year olds.
• The highest majority of Facebook users are aged between 18-25 (29%) while on Twitter the highest majority of users are 26-34 year olds  (30%).
• The average LinkedIn user is 44 years old.
• The average Twitter user is 39 years old.
• The average Facebook user is 38 years old.
• 26% of Millenials (people born between 1978 and 1994, so aged 16-32, and the first generation to be “raised” on the internet) access social networks at least once a day. Millenials also spend an average of 23 minutes online every day.

How different age groups interact across the social web

So far in our social business blog series we’ve provided a definition of  social business and why it’s important in a commercial context.  We’ve also looked at existing examples of social business by looking at a few social business case studies, as well as providing some simple, practical advice on how to succeed at social business.

In this final post of our social business series, we’ll look at how you can get the ball rolling in your own organisation.

Social business, after all, is really a re-evaluation of how communication takes place within a company. The difficulty comes from the need for a new company culture, and that’s usually dependent on top-down movement from senior levels.

So while you might understand the importance of clearer communication and collaboration, how can you convince the key decision makers that it’s something they really should be thinking about too?

1. Find your champion

At a recent seminar I attended about social media use in FTSE 100 companies, Bian Salins, Head of Social Media Innovation for BT Customer Service, commented that a strong personality is an essential requirement for encouraging a company to adopt social media.

Basically, Bian was saying was that you need to have a champion, someone who will not back down, especially when facing senior stakeholders who are invested in or unwilling to change from legacy systems and procedures.

If you have to face middle management before reaching key stakeholders, finding someone in this level who is already aware of social media and it’s value can help improve your chances and can give you an ally.

2. Find your story

Obviously, enthusiasm and charm alone will not be sufficient for your champion – solid evidence of why social business adds value is a vital instrument.

To do this you may need to start small. If possible,  get a pilot scheme running (which is also a good opportunity to involve middle management and find your champion).

While the main challenge may be getting approval from senior executives, demonstrating the value and generating buzz from the bottom up can show that there is not only a need for social business, but a willing and prepared pool of evangelists who are ready to encourage adoption.

If you aren’t able to get your own process started, then case studies of strategic social media use from other businesses are another way to demonstrate success and reduce perceived risk. Of course, it never hurts to highlight how it has been beneficial to competitors,but having the first mover advantage is probably more beneficial.