LinkedIn 2014 Annual Report Download - page 7

key areas: the global workforce, companies, job opportunities, professional skills, higher education
institutions and professional knowledge. By operationalizing this vision, we believe LinkedIn will enable
our members to navigate the increasingly challenging global economy more effectively.
Our Strategy
Our strategy is informed by our mission to connect the world’s professionals to make them more
productive and successful. The key elements of that strategy include:
•Foster Viral Member Growth. With approximately 347 million members as of December 31,
2014, we will continue to pursue initiatives that promote the viral growth of our member base,
specifically members expanding this base by inviting others. In addition, our members perpetuate
our viral growth through sharing content, which is then shared further on members’ networks.
Viral growth is a critical element of our mission to connect the world’s professionals.
•Serve as the Professional Profile of Record. We seek to create the primary professional
profile for every professional worldwide. Members can increasingly represent their identities in
the form of a dynamic portfolio versus a static resume through rich media and the ability to click
to add skills and professional accomplishments. Using our platform, any member can find other
professionals on LinkedIn, connect with members relevant to their professional network, and be
found by other professionals on the Internet.
•Become the Definitive Professional Publishing Platform. We strive to make members more
productive and successful by creating the web’s definitive professional publishing platform, which
enables members to publish, discover and consume relevant professional content at global
scale. LinkedIn’s publishing platform encompasses features and products including the ability for
all members to create long-form content, our Influencer program, our Pulse news product and
Slideshare platform, and the LinkedIn homepage. Through these product experiences, we
believe LinkedIn can help members establish themselves as experts, improve their skills and
expertise and get daily news about their industry and areas of interest.
•Expand Our International Presence. We have seen significant growth in our international
member base and have established operations in several regions around the world. We intend
to continue to grow our international member base by expanding our sales, technical and
support operations in additional international locations and by further developing our brand
across various international geographies. In addition, the 2014 launch of LinkedIn in Simplified
Chinese represents the largest potential market we have entered with local product
development.
•Increase Monetization While Creating Value for Our Members. A core part of our strategy is
ensuring that our customer-focused solutions add meaningful value for our members. For
example, by enabling members to represent their professional identities and build their personal
brands, Talent Solutions customers can better identify members as passive hiring candidates for
new career opportunities.
Our Solutions
Our solutions are designed to make professionals more productive and successful and to connect
talent with opportunity at massive scale. To date our focus has been to develop products that enable
our members to create, manage and share their professional identities online, build and engage with
their professional networks, access shared knowledge and business insights, and find business
opportunities.
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