LinkedIn Surges From Credit Crunch

Business social networking site LinkedIn has seen a 25% increase in sign ups since the credit crunch bit hard in September.

Times might be tough in the economy, but they’re looking up for business social networking site LinkedIn, which has reported a 25% increase in sign ups since September.

People are eager to work on their networking contacts as the job market contracts and many are scrambling for work. During the summer the site had added users at the rate of about a million every 20 days. That’s now risen to a million every two weeks. The company has also reported a 15% increase in the last two months in the issuing of invitations to get people to join business networking circles and a 14% increase in the amount of recommendations made by users endorsing another member of LinkedIn, the Guardian reports.

Kevin Eyres, the European managing director of LinkedIn, said:

"Economic issues and uncertainty has highlighted the importance on networking and information exchange. We have seen a significant increase in the rate of sign-ups and in the amount of activity our users have been conducting on LinkedIn over the last two months."

Eyre said the company looks set to hit its revenue forecast of between $75m and $100m. Money comes from job listings, advertising, and premium service subscriptions. It claims 30 million members worldwide.