Wednesday 30 October 2013

LinkedIn has more users than Twitter. 259 million monthly active users. But it's still losing money.



LinkedIn announced this week that it has 259 million monthly active users.

That's significant growth, up nearly 20 million quarter on quarter and up from 187 million last year. So more people are using LinkedIn actively.

Firstly, it may reflect the general downturn as businesspeople have more time on their hands and secondly, they're looking for better business opportunities.

However, it may also reflect that LinkedIn is more popular and it's just natural, organic growth. It puts LinkedIn ahead of Twitter (230 million active monthly users). That astonishes me anyway.

Even more astonishing is that LinkedIn lags behind the dreadful Google+ (300 million active monthly users) which I can only think is because most of us are forced into Google+. It's hard to find one deliberate active user that I know anyway who actively uses Google+. 

LinkedIn posted strong revenues too of 393 million usd although Q4 forecasts were lower than expected. 62% of the revenue is still US based so LinkedIn needs to bring in more revenue from the 200+ countries in which it operates.

Those countries are only accounting for 38% of revenue combined. An opportunity?

That said, it's still good revenue, still strong.

A quarterly loss of over 3 million usd, isn't and I just can't understand how, like Amazon, these companies can't turn profits on such extraordinarily high revenues?

And if LinkedIn continues to grow its active members in the way that it clearly is, revenue uplifts must follow. They have a core market of businesspeople which in itself, has a premium value outside of just "the numbers" say compared to a Twitter.

So in a way, it's a premium Social Network.
A growing premium Social Network.
That needs to stop losing money.

2 comments:

  1. There may be more active users on LinkedIn but I'd imagine that they are far less engaged. I don't have figures but I would imagine if you look at the average number of iterations that an average user has with Twitter vs the average number of interaction the average user has with LinkedIn there would be no comparison. The Google Plus number is even more interesting... regardless of the fact that people are being forced to us G+ I really think that it is where any business person/marketer should be focusing their attention. There are just so many benefits to be gained from it that it is becoming harder and harder to ignore.

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  2. Yes indeed that's a point I'd hadn't thought about. How monthly active are they? You're right I'm sure and thanks. Google+ I just don't get....yet.

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