How does LinkedIn work?
LinkedIn works as a network of professional profiles linked by connections and follows. Every member has a profile with job history, skills and education, and companies run Company Pages. The feed shows posts from connections, followed people and pages, while separate tabs handle jobs, messaging and learning. LinkedIn lists more than 144,000 schools and 42,000 skills in its graph, which is why its targeting by job title and seniority is far more precise than on consumer networks.
History of LinkedIn: key dates
LinkedIn is one of the oldest social networks still growing today. The table lists the milestones.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| December 2002 | Reid Hoffman and Eric Ly co-found the company |
| 5 May 2003 | LinkedIn launches publicly |
| 2016 | Microsoft acquires LinkedIn for 26.2 billion USD |
| April 2026 | Daniel Shapero, COO since 2021, becomes CEO and Ryan Roslansky moves to a wider Microsoft role |
Today LinkedIn employs more than 17,000 people, works in 36 languages and has offices in 36 cities.
LinkedIn users in numbers
LinkedIn reports more than 1.3 billion registered members, which are accounts, not monthly active users. The pressroom splits them into 430 million in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 410 million in Asia Pacific, 290 million in North America and 226 million in South and Central America. DataReportal’s January 2025 data puts the largest markets at the United States (250 million), India (150 million) and Brazil (81 million), with men making up 56.9% of the ad audience.
In Poland, DataReportal’s Digital 2026 report counts 9.2 million LinkedIn members at the end of 2025, equal to 29.4% of adults. That reach grew by 1.3 million (+16.5%) between the end of 2024 and the end of 2025.
LinkedIn ads: formats
LinkedIn sells five groups of ad formats in Campaign Manager. The H3s below cover the ones I use most for B2B clients.
Sponsored Content
Sponsored Content appears in the feed as single image, video, carousel, event, document, article and job ads. Thought Leader Ads promote posts written by employees instead of the company page, and Document Ads let users read a PDF of up to 300 pages before downloading it.
Sponsored Messaging and Lead Gen Forms
Message Ads and Conversation Ads land in the inbox and are delivered only when a member is active. Lead Gen Forms pre-fill up to 12 fields from the profile, which removes typing and lowers friction on the way to a lead.
Dynamic and Text Ads
Spotlight and Follower Ads personalise the creative with the viewer’s photo and job title, while Text Ads sit in the right-hand column on desktop. I set these campaigns up as part of my LinkedIn Ads services.
LinkedIn in B2B marketing, SEO and AI search
LinkedIn matters for search because public profiles, Company Pages and articles are indexed by Google and read by AI assistants. When a buyer asks an AI tool who the experts are in a niche, LinkedIn posts and profiles are often part of the evidence it uses. A consistent company description on LinkedIn, the website and other profiles strengthens the brand as an entity, which supports Generative Engine Optimization.
For B2B companies, LinkedIn also sharpens the ideal customer profile: you can test which job titles and industries respond before writing SEO content for them. In my B2B SEO projects I reuse the topics that win on LinkedIn as blog and landing page briefs.
LinkedIn vs Facebook for marketers
| Feature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Owner | Microsoft | Meta |
| Audience | Professionals, B2B buyers | Mass consumer audience |
| Best targeting | Job title, seniority, company, industry | Interests, behaviour, demographics |
| Typical goal | Leads, recruitment, thought leadership | Sales, awareness, community |
Compare it with the full entry on Facebook, and connect leads from both channels in one CRM to see which platform brings customers, not only clicks.
Frequently asked questions about LinkedIn
When was LinkedIn founded?
LinkedIn was co-founded by Reid Hoffman and Eric Ly in December 2002 and launched publicly on 5 May 2003. It is one of the oldest social networks still in wide use.
Who owns LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft, which bought it in 2016 for 26.2 billion USD. Daniel Shapero has been LinkedIn's CEO since April 2026.
How many people use LinkedIn?
LinkedIn reports more than 1.3 billion registered members worldwide. DataReportal counted 9.2 million members in Poland at the end of 2025.
Is LinkedIn good for B2B marketing?
LinkedIn is the strongest social channel for B2B because it lets you target by job title, seniority, company and industry. It works best for lead generation, recruitment and thought leadership content.
Related terms
- About LinkedIn · LinkedIn Pressroom
- LinkedIn Users, Stats, Data & Trends · DataReportal
- Digital 2026: Poland · DataReportal
- LinkedIn has turned 20 years old today, here's a brief history of the social network · Neowin
- LinkedIn Ads Guide · LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
- LinkedIn: Daniel Shapero Named CEO As Ryan Roslansky Transitions To Expanded Microsoft Role · Pulse 2.0
