LinkedIn - social networking for business

I have a strong belief that starting businesses during an economic downturn is the exact right time to do it because it gives you runway. It’s harder to raise capital, but if you can do it, it gives you an advantage. Reid Hoffman, as quoted in LinkedIn’s startup story: Connecting the business world

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is LinkedIn.   If there’s an economic downturn, it makes a lot of sense to put your energy into a business model that helps people connect professionally.  You make money…they find a job or a person to fill a job…everyone wins.

LinkedIn’s membership goals are pretty high — they’re after 1 in 4 people of the world’s population.  Currently, LinkedIn is gaining members at the rate of 1 per second.  That’s a million new members approximately every seventeen days.

The business, which is profitable, has three revenue streams: subscriptions on the site (providing better search functionality and a better way to contact members at large in the database), advertising (their demographic is similar to that of the Wall Street Journal) and a SaaS for recruiters and departments of human resources called LinkedIn Talent Advantage.