Who are the most active users on LinkedIn.com?

At the truManchester unconference last week I lead, together with Mark Williams, two 2 tracks about LinkedIn. During both tracks the usage and penetration (i.e. the percent of Internet users visiting the site) of LinkedIn was discussed. I knew that the Dutch are world champion in LinkedIn but it’s always nice to see how this compares to other countries.

Interestingly, comScore acquired the Dutch company Nedstat last week, both well-known players in the field of web analytics, and they looked into the LinkedIn.com figures and stats. Apparently because comScore employees noticed that their new Dutch colleagues were very active on LinkedIn. Or would that have to do with the takeover?

In any case, LinkedIn reaches 15.2% of all Internet users in the Netherlands and they spend about 21 minutes and watch an average of 64 pages in this professional business network (based on stats from July 2010). There are over 2 million Dutch profiles (2.7%) on a total of 76 million users worldwide.

Some people also asked me about the possible reasons for its popularity in The Netherlands. Here are my top cultural reasons:

• Historically well connected with Americans, where LinkedIn.com started
• Everyone speaks and writes fluent English
• International and entrepeunerial spirit; the Dutch have been doing business with the rest of the world for centuries by sailing over the oceans.
• Open and transparant culture; for example they answer the Phone with our full name. Compare that with countries in Southern Europe (pronto)!

This might also explain its popularity in a handful of surrounding countries in Europe including Ireland (14.7%), Denmark (12.1%), Belgium (10.0%) and the U.K. (9.4%).

© 2010 Jacco Valkenburg