LinkedIn is Now the Second Most Popular Social Network in the U.S.

CNN recently reported that LinkedIn has surpassed Myspace as the second-most popular social network in relation to online traffic in the United States. Facebook, as many would guess, is the most visited social networking site.

According to the article, there were 33.9 million unique visitors from the U.S. to LinkedIn last month, which is an increase of approximately half a million from May. In comparison, Myspace had less than 33.5 million visits from Americans in June, which was a decline of about 1.4 million visitors from the previous month. In sharp contrast, Facebook had 160.8 million unique visitors in June.

While Myspace still has about 130 million active users, the social networking site has struggled to reinvent itself after being ousted by Facebook. In June of 2010, Myspace had over 66 million unique visitors, and that traffic has declined by half. While online traffic to Myspace from the U.S. places the site in third place, it is expected that Twitter, which had 30.6 million unique visitors in June, will soon eclipse the site.

Meanwhile, LinkedIn has an estimated 115 million active users, and is continuing to grow rapidly. In March, CEO Jeff Weiner announced the social networking site had been adding approximately a million members a week. TechCrunch, a popular site dedicated to technology and Web 2.0, also recently announced that LinkedIn is now its number two social referrer, behind Facebook.

A recent survey highlighted how people are using LinkedIn. Market-research company Lab42 surveyed 500 LinkedIn members and found that 35 percent of members visit the site every day, with 42 percent regularly updating their profiles. Interestingly, the survey discovered that entry-level workers and top-level executives use the site very differently. Younger users mostly use LinkedIn to search for jobs, while older executives use the site for promoting their business as well as networking.

Sources: http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/07/11/linkedin.myspace/; http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/twitter-who-linkedin-is-sending-us-far-more-referral-traffic-now/2011/06/30/AGT4gcsH_story.html