Richard Branson Hits 1 Million LinkedIn Followers
Virgin founder and CEO Richard Branson is the first influencer to reach 1 million followers on LinkedIn, less than two months after LinkedIn’s Influencers feature was released.Influencers allows LinkedIn users to follow the pages of influential figures in the business and political world. When the Influencers network was set up in October there were 150 high-profile figures to follow.
Following an influencer enables users to see their status updates. Influencers can also post articles and presentations exclusive to the LinkedIn feed, informing and educating their followers.
There are currently almost 170 people who users can follow, including Mitt Romney, Mashable’s Pete Cashmore and Craig “Craigslist” Newark. President Barack Obama has 500,000 followers in second place, only half the number that Branson has.
“Our data shows that he’s popular with everyone from entrepreneurs to HR workers and in industries ranging from tech to construction,” LinkedIn’s executive editor Daniel Roth wrote in a blog post explaining Branson’s success. “The only continent where he doesn’t have a single follower is Antarctica.”
The speed at which Branson attained 1 million followers suggests that LinkedIn could compete in the world of social media, but only, perhaps, by mimicking the features of other social media platforms.
What makes LinkedIn's following feature unique are the business articles made available on the platform by the influencers: since Influencers began there have been more than a thousand original posts, which have generated over 11 million views and 80,000 comments.
Branson’s 1 million LinkedIn followers is put into perspective, however, by his more impressive 2.6 million Twitter followers.
Have you used the Influencers feature on LinkedIn?
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Will Sigsworth
Follow us @SocialMediaF & @WillAtSMF
www.socialmediafrontiers.com
Richard Branson Hits 1 Million LinkedIn Followers
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