Young Upstarts

LinkedIn first established an office here in Singapore back in 2011. Then the online professional networking site had around half a million members – earlier this week the company announced that its membership base has approximately doubled to over a million members, addressing about 70% of the country’s professional labor force and student population.

Singapore is the fourth market in Southeast Asia to surpass the 1-million mark, after Malaysia (1+ million), Indonesia (1.5+ million) and the Philippines (1.5+ million). This compares to Asia Pacific markets such as Australia (4+ million), India (19+ million), and China (3+ million).

LinkedIn also recently overhauled its mobile applications, tapping on the explosive smartphone growth in his region. Previously around 10-15% of users accessed LinkedIn via mobile devices; latest numbers show that around 27% of users access the site via mobile platforms such as smartphones and tablets.

“The milestone is particularly significant for us at LinkedIn because it means that over one million members in Singapore are seeing the value that LinkedIn is adding to their professional lives,” says Hari Krishnan, managing director of LinkedIn for Asia-Pacific and Japan (pictured above). “Singapore is increasingly becoming a a regional hub for key industry sectors such as financial services, infocomm and media; as a result, skills, innovation, and productivity improvements are the fundamental pillars for success and economic growth.”

“We see the 1-million member milestone in Singapore as a key tipping point,” he adds. “All the member interactions taking place on LinkedIn form a massive wealth of data which companies are using to transform the way they hire the right talent, market their brands to the right audience, and sell more effectively.”

Interesting data revealed by LinkedIn:

– Top five Singaporean companies followed on the site are DBS Bank, Solutions for Emerging Asia Pte Ltd, SingTel, National University of Singapore, and StarHub,

– Top five skills include Microsoft Office, Project Management, Business Strategy, Strategic Planning, and Business Development,

– Singapore’s “Power Profile” list of top-viewed LinkedIn profiles in their industry include Steve Melhuish (CEO of PropertyGuru), Jason Kuperman (CEO of Omnicom Digital Asia Pacific), Mark Hall (CEO of Kelly Services Singapore) and Rachel Tan (VP, DBS Bank).

Daniel Goh is the founder and chief editor of Young | Upstarts, as well as an F&B entrepreneur. Daniel has a background in public relations, and is interested in issues in entrepreneurship, small business, marketing, public relations and the online space. He can be reached at daniel [at] youngupstarts [dot] com.