According to Cliff Rosenberg, LinkedIn Managing Director for Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, 2013 has been a year of record growth in Australia, with membership reaching five million, from just 540,000 five years ago in 2008. In March this year LinkedIn hit four million members in Australia.
Globally, the professional network says it attracts more than two new members every second and has grown to 259 million members this year, in its 10th year of operation.
In his blog on LinkedIn, Rosenberg says LinkedIn had just one million Australian members and a handful of customers when he opened the Australian office with a small start-up team in January 2010.
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“One of the reasons we’re seeing so much interest from Australian professionals is because we’re making ourselves increasingly relevant to them in providing both local and global insights. For instance we now have 5 Australian influencers as part of our global influencer program,” Rosenberg said.
“This is yet another important milestone, illustrating that Australians really understand the potential economic opportunities that they can create by leveraging online professional networks. We are also seeing a strong uptake from our Australian members leveraging LinkedIn as a professional content platform to discover and share insights, locally in Australia and globally as well.
“Our rapid product innovation, which includes adding more influencers to our platform, more enhanced mobile applications and the recent launch of LinkedIn University Pages, is enabling us to deliver even greater value to our members.”
Rosenberg said that, with over five million professionals in Australia, LinkedIn was now reaching critical mass with early adopters, such as professionals in IT and marketing being joined by professionals in other industries, including healthcare and education.
“The student market continues to be LinkedIn’s fastest growing demographic with over 30 million students, with recent university graduates realising the potential of LinkedIn in enabling them to become more productive and successful in their careers,” Rosenberg said.
Rosenberg said that LinkedIn’s influencer program has now attracted over 300 global leaders to engage millions of professionals on its network with proprietary insights, since its launch a year ago.
And, in 2013, four Australia-based influencers joined the program, the latest of which is Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce. Joyce has joined a growing list of influencers in Australia, which now includes Alan Joyce. Joyce joins what LinkedIn says is a growing list of influencers in Australia, which now includes Mike Smith (CEO, ANZ), Creel Price (Entrepreneur and founder, Entreprenaissance Movement), Matt Barrie (CEO, Freelancer.com) and Naomi Simson (CEO, RedBalloon).
Rosenberg also says LinkedIn continues to see strong demand and response for its suite of services, including talent and marketing solutions.
“We are seeing a growing, diverse portfolio of Australian companies taking notice of the increasingly massive data set LinkedIn provides and using it to transform the way they hire talent, market their brand and sell more effectively.”
According to Rosenberg, a number of global companies based in Australia are also early adopters of LinkedIn’s latest product innovation. “For example, Telstra was among an exclusive list of global companies leveraging LinkedIn’s recent roll out of Sponsored Updates to raise awareness and shape perception, drive quality leads and build relationships with Australian professionals,” he concludes.
“Top 5” data insights of LinkedIn membership usage in Australia:
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Top 5 companies by employee members in Australia |
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1. Telstra |
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2. National Australia Bank |
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3. Commonwealth Bank |
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4. ANZ |
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5. Westpac |
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Top 5 Industries represented in Australia |
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1. Information Technology and Services |
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2. Construction |
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3. Financial Services |
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4. Education Management |
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5. Hospital & Health Care |
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Top 5 companies Australian members follow |
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1. Google |
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2. Telstra |
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3. Rio Tinto |
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4. Commonwealth Bank |
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5. National Australia Bank |
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Top 5 influencers followed by Australian members |
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1. Richard Branson |
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2. Deepak Chopra |
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3. Barack Obama |
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4. Anthony Robbins |
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5. Jack Welch |
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Top 5 LinkedIn Groups Australian members are a part of |
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1. Australian IT Industry |
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2. Ex-Telstra Employees |
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3. TED: Ideas Worth Spreading – Unofficial |
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4. Australian Human Resources Institute |
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5. Social Media Marketing |
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Top 5 Job Titles |
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1. Owner |
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2. Director |
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3. Manager |
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4. Managing director |
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5. Teacher |
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Top 5 Universities Australian members attended |
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1. Monash University |
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2. RMIT University |
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3. University of New South Wales |
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4. University of Sydney |
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5. University of Melbourne |
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Top 5 Endorsed Skills |
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1. Management |
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2. Strategy |
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3. Change Management |
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4. Project Management |
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5. Leadership |
