LinkedIn 2015 Annual Report Download - page 56

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than the number of actual members and a substantial majority of our traffic is generated by a
minority of our members. Our business may be adversely impacted if we are unable to attract and
retain additional members who actively use our services.’’
The number of our registered members increased by 19% in 2015 compared to 2014, and by 25%
in 2014 compared to 2013. Over these same periods, the growth rate in our net revenue exceeded the
growth rate of our number of registered members. While growth in the number of registered members
can be an indicator of expected revenue growth, it also informs our management’s decisions with
respect to those areas of our business that will require further investment to support expected future
membership growth. For example, as the number of registered members increases, we may need to
increase our capital expenditures to improve our information technology infrastructure to maintain the
effectiveness of our solutions and the performance of our website and mobile applications for our
members.
•Unique Visiting Members. We define unique visiting members as the total number of members
who have visited LinkedIn.com on desktop or have visited selected mobile applications offered
by LinkedIn.com on their mobile devices at least once during a month. We view unique visiting
members as a key indicator of whether we are delivering value to members by continuing to
improve our product offerings as well as growth in our brand awareness among members.
Higher levels of member traffic contribute to building a larger pool of professional talent and a
richer data ecosystem, which is our key monetizable asset. We leverage these assets, both
directly and indirectly, to grow sales within Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, and Premium
Subscriptions. Continued growth in unique visiting members will be driven by growth in the
number of registered members, improvements to features and products that drive traffic to our
website and mobile applications, and global expansion. This growth may be impacted by
business decisions aligned with our long-term strategy in order to create a better member
experience. For example, our decision to reduce the number of emails sent to members may
adversely impact the amount of member traffic to our site.
The following table presents the average monthly number of unique visiting members during the
periods presented:
Year Ended Year Ended
December 31, December 31,
2015 2014 % Change 2014 2013 % Change
(in thousands) (in thousands)
Unique visiting members(1),(3) .......... 98,452 87,222 13% 87,222 73,147 19%
Mobile unique visiting members(2),(3) ..... 52,770 40,050 32% 40,050 26,521 51%
(1) Members who have visited LinkedIn.com on their desktops and/or have visited selected mobile
applications offered by LinkedIn.com on their mobile devices.
(2) Members who have visited selected mobile applications offered by LinkedIn.com on their mobile
devices.
(3) We track unique visiting members using internal tools, which are subject to various risks. For more
information, see ‘‘Risk Factors—The tracking of certain of our performance metrics is done with
internal tools and is not independently verified. Certain of our performance metrics are subject to
inherent challenges in measurement, and real or perceived inaccuracies in such metrics may harm
our reputation and negatively affect our business.’’
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