Microsoft's professional network for jobs, hiring and industry news
First principle
People have always found their next job through people they know. LinkedIn turned the CV and the address book into one public page, so recruiters can find you without an introduction.
The needs it meets
- MoneyCore
- Paying less, selling what you don't need, earning a little more.
- Staying in touch
- Keeping up with family, friends and colleagues; belonging to a circle.
- Being seen
- Making things and showing yourself; being seen and approved of.
Why it wins
- The profile is a public CV that stays current, so recruiters come to you instead of you applying to one firm after another.
- Former colleagues, classmates and bosses are all on it; one look shows who works at a company and who could refer you.
- The feed carries peers' views and industry news, and posting has become a way to build a professional name.
What keeps it ahead
- Network effects
- The more people use it, the more useful it is; everyone is already there.
- Switching cost
- Your data, contacts or progress live here; leaving is costly.
How it makes money
SubscriptionsAds
Job seekers and networkers buy Premium in the app to see who viewed them, send InMail to people they don't know and see salary data; companies pay for recruiting tools and ads, mostly outside the app.
What a small team can take from it
LinkedIn's moat is a record users maintain themselves: people keep their CV current because it gets them hired. If a small product gives users a selfish reason to keep valuable data up to date, it owns something rivals can't copy.
This week
- World: top grossing apps, number 10, in 8 of 10 countriesUK App Store 5 · India App Store 6 · India Google Play 6 · France App Store 8 · Germany App Store 11 · UK Google Play 12
updated 29 October 2026
- Developer
- LinkedIn Corporation
- Category
- App · Business
- Stores
- App Store, Google Play
- First in a list
- 29 October 2026
Sources
This is our analysis and judgement, drafted by an AI agent from the store pages and public sources and read by a person before it went up. Every figure has a source; where there is none, we give no figure. Found a mistake? Write to [email protected].