Is LinkedIn Really for Sharing Content?
June 21, 2011 7 Comments
As LinkedIn share buttons pop up across the web and share counts climb, it appears LinkedIn is quickly becoming a major platform for sharing articles and links. I fell for it, the numbers on the share buttons fooled me two months ago when I wrote Which Social Network is Right for B2B Marketing.
The truth is, LinkedIn isn’t where we share. With LinkedIn’s valuation soaring like its the next Fortune 500, you have to ask, if we are not sharing on LinkedIn, is LinkedIn really a major social platform? Or is it a great platform for business connections and profiles. [Yes, I’m a big fan of LinkedIn, I’m just not placing buy orders today.]
LinkedIn share counts combine Twitter and LinkedIn sharing into a single aggregate share number. If you have ever added your Twitter and LinkedIn share stats to get a total sharing number, you have double counted. But on most blogs (this one is an exception, why is below), there are more tweets than LinkedIn shares.
Below is a screenshot of the public shares on LinkedIn of a recent post. With the exception of my posting to LinkedIn, every one of the listed shares is followed by “via twitter”. This isn’t LinkedIn sharing, this is LinkedIn as a selective Twitter client.
In addition, despite the number of reported LinkedIn shares, this blog has less traffic from LinkedIn in the last week than from HootSuite, and consistently receives significantly more traffic from Twitter than from LinkedIn.
Here is what does drive LinkedIn’s sharing counts:
- Twitter. Many people still auto-post from Twitter to LinkedIn, which drives the visible sharing in the screen capture above.
- Twitter again. Based on my testing, it appears that any link posted from a Twitter account that is associated with a LinkedIn account (even if auto-sharing is not on) will count as a LinkedIn share. If your audience is marketing, that probably describes nearly everyone that would tweet your content. [If you have tested this more thoroughly, please let me know in the comments or on Twitter!]
- Link expansion. LinkedIn recognizes and ‘reads through’ more URL shorteners than Twitter does. Through Triberr, each one of my blog posts is tweeted more than a dozen times using one of Triberr’s URL shortener. LinkedIn recognizes the Triberr shorteners and counts these as LinkedIn shares, Twitter does not. [This is why LinkedIn sharing is higher than Twitter sharing on this blog].
- Sharing via LinkedIn. Of course, LinkedIn sharing does contribute to LinkedIn share counts. However, I would estimate that on this blog, more than 90% of the shares did not originate with LinkedIn.
Shortly after LinkedIn expanded sharing features, Mashable asked “Are LinkedIn users really link sharers? … Can LinkedIn truly become a hub for information-sharing?” It seems the answer to the first question is a resounding yes, but LinkedIn has not become the hub for information-sharing.
Does this information make you reconsider the importance of LinkedIn sharing? Does it make Facebook, with lower reported share counts, a more attractive location to focus on sharing and distributing your content, or other vertical networks? Share your perspective in the comments below or with me on Twitter.
About Eric Wittlake
I am a digital and B2B marketer with a background in online media and analytics. I work with B2B clients on media and integrated marketing programs. You can connect with me on Twitter at @wittlake or in the comments here on my Digital B2B Marketing blog.
I am a digital and B2B marketer with a background in analytics and online media. Based in Portland, Oregon, I run the media group at 
Digital B2B Marketing 
Your information about share counts is helpful and good to keep in mind, but I still think sharing on LinkedIn from Twitter has value. It can help you reach a broader audience and is therefore worthwhile. Just take your overall share counts with a grain of salt if you do it.
Thanks Mary for the quick comment, I hadn’t even found the Tweet button yet! I agree, I’m not going to stop sharing on LinkedIn, but it certainly made me reconsider its relative importance and wonder if it is as much about adding my expanded thinking to my “professional profile” as it is about active sharing and discussion.
Alternatively, is the real opportunity on LinkedIn driving dialogue in groups rather than broader sharing? Questions we all should be revisiting regularly.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, I appreciate it!
Hey Eric. I am going to have to do some research on this. I am not seeing the same thing. My understanding was that it requires it to be shared to LinkedIn. Yes, a tweet may count but only if the account is set to auto post to LinkedIn or if the user uses an auto post hashtag to LinkedIn such as #LI.
I have seen good result from LinkedIn shares and get a good amount of traffic from LinkedIn. We get highly qualified leads from CXO level and decision makers. We are happy about this as we spend the least amount of time on LinkedIn but have a very high ROI. It really seems to be the other tools and channels as you mention feeding LinkedIn, not the share coming from LinkedIn. The button is intended to post to LinkedIn just as Facebook button does.
It always to me comes down to goals, objectives and your audience. Where is your target market and how can you best engage with them to meet your biz and life goals?
Good post as usual. Interested in any follow up research and data you may find!
Cheers,
Pam
Hi Pam, the note the LinkedIn Today that it is powered by Twitter and LinkedIn is what initially grabbed my attention and make me look at this a bit more closely. My testing wasn’t as controlled as I would have liked, I tweeted links from pretty dead twitter accounts and the tweet button showed more activity than just mine.
I have seen some solid traffic from LinkedIn on select posts that were picked up and shared or commented on by multiple people on LinkedIn, but day-by-day, Twitter and links from other blogs or sites are certainly the primary traffic driver here. Interestingly enough, it looks the LinkedIn counting may have changed today, this post has more than a dozen tweets, but only three LinkedIn shares reported, while I write this. That, or LinkedIn doesn’t like the post and is missing with my numbers!
Glad to hear your having success with LinkedIn getting to more senior business audiences, and your right, because networks are built through activity outside LinkedIn, it doesn’t require nearly the level of effort or attention that platforms like Twitter or Quora (which I’m still avoiding for that very reason) require.
Thanks for taking the time to comment and the support you’ve given me over the last month here on this blog and on Twitter, you have made me strive to continue raising the quality of my content and engagement (not to mention headlines!).
I share my links on LinkedIn and have my connection activity feed on my Tweetdeck dashboard. But I’m a content marketing dork, and judging by the total lack of activity (sharing, commenting) among my connections through LinkedIn, I’m assuming that they aren’t really checking their feeds too often.
Either that, or they couldn’t care less about my posts. The horror!!!
Thanks for commenting. LinkedIn Today is certainly a good way to find content, but without lists and mentions, there is too much noise in the stream. Unlike Twitter, where I would unfollow or delist someone, I’m connected for different reasons on LinkedIn and am not going to remove a connection simply because I’m not interested in their stream.
I think this is a challenge for LinkedIn, but as Pam pointed out, she is getting quality traffic from LinkedIn with less effort expended than in other channels. A good point to remember, as ultimately I would like to see the engagement here, where there is an opportunity to expand on thoughts more, than on Twitter or LinkedIn.
Thanks again for the comment and for all of the great content. Great post on B2BBloggers.com today!
Writing posts is the easy part but remembering to post them on time is tough. I really needed an app or a website that would help me schedule my post. LassoIn [com] is one such site that has been helping me to schedule different posts. The site has reduced my workload and provided me with time to concentrate on other things.