LinkedIn claims it has grown to a half a billion users, reaching the milestone after the business-oriented social media website became part of Microsoft in a $26.2 billion acquisition last year.
According to TechCrunch, LinkedIn's 500 million-user mark showed significant growth since reporting 467 million members in the last quarterly filing in October.
"The impact of half a billion professionals connecting and communicating is very real, and very accessible to anyone who wants to take part today," Aatif Awan, vice president for growth and international products, said on LinkedIn's blog.
LinkedIn focuses on professional networking and business connections and includes about 10 million jobs listings and more than nine million company profiles, said CNET.com, but its traffic was lagging behind other social media sites.
Last October, LinkedIn said it had 106 million monthly users, while Facebook attracted more than 1.8 billion monthly users and Twitter had 319 million.
Awan touted that LinkedIn's growth is a plus for businesses and job seekers.
"A professional community of this size has never existed until now," Awan claimed in Monday's blog. "But it's often the small, simple actions today that can lead you to bigger opportunities tomorrow. And access to this community has never been easier because every new connection represents a potential new opportunity."
Awan said each LinkedIn connection "reflects an average of 400 new people you can get introduced to and begin to build relationships with; encompasses 100 new companies who may be looking for the skills and talents you offer; and represents connections to an average of 500-plus jobs."
Microsoft called LinkedIn the "world's largest and most valuable professional network," when it purchased it last July. The tech giant pointed to LinkedIn enhanced newsfeed in delivering better business insights while rolling out a new version of its Recruiter product for its enterprise customers.
Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn's chairman of the board, co-founder and controlling shareholder, called Microsoft's purchase last year a "re-founding moment" for the social media company.
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