LinkedIn endorsements pass one billion in six months

Steven Loeb · March 6, 2013 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/2df4

2013 is becoming a banner year for LinkedIn!

2013 is proving to be the year of LinkedIn!

First, the company passed 200 million members, then it released its Q4 2012 numbers, which came way above expectations, and then the company's stock hit an all time high later the same month! And now the social network for professionals has announced a major milestone for one of its tools.

LinkedIn users have now given out more than one billion endorsements in less than six months, the company declared in a blogpost Wednesday. Endorsements are a way for users on LinkedIn to recommend skills that their connections have, from knowing C++, knowing editing software, to creative writing or even fitness.

The stats on endorsements are pretty impressive, especially considering the short amount of time they have been around. Since LinkedIn launched the tool, there have been 50 million endorsements given out every week. A total of 18 million users have given them and 58 million have received them.

While sending someone a skill endorsement might seem like just a nice gesture, they are actually a fairly useful tool for helping LinkedIn members find employment, and lead users to make their profile look better to both peers and potential employers.

"Skill endorsements are a great way to help build your professional brand, in fact you’re 4 times more likely to be viewed on LinkedIn if you’ve been endorsed," Peter Rusev, Associate Product Manager at LinkedIn, wrote.

"With more eyeballs on your profile, you may even want to use the opportunity to spruce up your profile, such as adding a particular project or work experience to go alongside the endorsements you’ve gathered from your peers."

One of many new products

In its latest quarter, LinkedIn posted non-GAAP earnings per share of 35 cents on revenue of $303.6 million, up 81% from $167.7 million in the year-ago period, and well above the consensus estimates compiled by Thomson Reuters of 19 cents a share on revenue of $279.5 million.

Jeff Weiner CEO said a big part of the company's success was due to to the large number of new products the company had put out, including endorsements, and from an accelerated product schedule, from once every two weeks to twice a day.

In July, the site redesigned its homepage to allow members to "discover, share and discuss the professional information that is most relevant to them." Homepage page views are up 70% since the redesign.

The company also came out with "influencers," which were introduced in October, to make the service a professional publishing platform. The most popular influencer is Richard Branson, with over 1.3 million followers.

In October, LinkedIn also introduced an updated profile.

See the full infographic about LinkedIn's one billion endorsements below: