LinkedIn adding a member a second: CEO

Career networking website LinkedIn grows as people seek to keep professional lives separate from private antics.

SAN FRANCISCO: Career networking website LinkedIn is adding a member a second as people seek to keep their professional lives separate from private antics they may share at Facebook.

LinkedIn chief executive Jeff Weiner said that LinkedIn had 85 million members and was growing faster than ever as the economy recovers and people get back to cultivating connections that could land them better jobs.

Half of LinkedIn members are outside the United States, with China and Brazil among the countries where the social network is seeing its fastest growth, Weiner said during a talk at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.

When asked what distinguishes LinkedIn from online social networking king Facebook, Weiner replied "keg stands."

The reference was intended to conjure pictures of college party goofiness such as guzzling beer from a keg while doing a handstand.

"While many of us in college were in parties having a good time doing things like keg stands, I don't know that many of us would look forward to a potential employer having access to that," Weiner said.

"For the most part, people want to keep their personal lives and their professional lives separate."

Facebook boasts more than 500 million members and is an online community known for friends sharing intimate details of their lives.

LinkedIn is built as an online community for networking with colleagues, peers, bosses, recruiters or others that could help advance careers.

The privately owned company based in the California city of Mountain View was founded in 2003.

Its revenue comes from advertising, subscriptions for premium services, and "hiring solutions" that connect recruiters with candidates.

"LinkedIn didn't invent professional networking," Weiner said. "What it did was manifest professional networking online."