Do business people read the pink papers anymore? Maybe they do, but they certainly engage with LinkedIn and read everything they need to know about what's happening in their world there. How did this change come about? In the early years of the new millennium, when LinkedIn was launched, it was an online platform to showcase your resume-something that allowed professionals to place their credentials in front of would-be recruiters. It also helped you network with your colleagues and other peers.
Over the past two decades and more, LinkedIn has become much more than that. It is the definitive space for exchanging ideas, insights and more among business and thought leaders, entrepreneurs and professionals. This is where content becomes a medium to express, profess, educate, learn, enhance clout and grow brands. It is not surprising that it is so, given that LinkedIn has more than a billion users, making it the go-to social media platform for business professionals.
LinkedIn is taking over from traditional business newspapers
LinkedIn content, being user-driven and backed by its huge professional network, is increasingly preferred over traditional business newspapers owing to its dynamic and participatory nature. It's more driven by genuine conversations and healthy interactions amongst professionals with recognizable faces, than by storied prestige and authority accompanied by a rigid structure of news dissemination.
What makes LinkedIn score emphatically over traditional business newspapers is its democratic nature that encourages an exchange of ideas instead of the latter’s rigid pontificating from the top format. An Op-Ed in a pink paper, no matter how enlightening, is a one-way street, while one on LinkedIn can start a healthy discussion among many people. What this ensures is that one obtains real value and depth from the platform-something that the business papers of old were somewhat constrained in providing.
This is because LinkedIn possesses a unique ability to provide access to worldwide networks, via content algorithmically targeted at specific sets of people based on their credentials. It can also help obtain instant feedback through likes and shares, giving it a tremendous advantage over traditional business newspapers, which lack in both speed and dynamism.
As a matter of fact, some of the most iconic media brands in the world thought it necessary to have a presence on LinkedIn. These include The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Forbes. Not surprising, given that its reach now straddles continents, with the United States accounting for 252 million members, EMEA (Europe, Middle East & East Africa) for 407 million members and Asia Pacific (APAC) for 385 million members. What’s more, as many as 69 million businesses are listed on LinkedIn,
Preferring LinkedIn over business newspapers is a natural consequence of the digital age. One uses smartphones not just to make calls, but to text, shoot pictures and videos, make payments and entertain without giving it a second thought. Similarly, LinkedIn has increasingly become the go-to medium for everything to do with business, entrepreneurs, industries and professionals. It has, in effect, become the new business newspaper of our times.







