Build Your Social Profile
Use of LinkedIn by
the Public Sector in
44
T
Abu Dhabi
HE TIDE OF SOCIAL MEDIA which has swept the world has brought with it several platforms that have provided individuals, businesses, and governments a means of interacting and connecting in a new way. One such platform is LinkedIn, a social media tool aimed mainly at professionals to help them grow their networks and careers. Although built primarily for professional networking, LinkedIn is also largely used by organizations for online promotion, recruitment and hiring, and for generating discussions and debates on the latest
Issue 4 - april 2015
news, trends, and breakthroughs.
Although Facebook and Twitter lead the use of social media internationally, LinkedIn seems to be catching up quite rapidly. From marketing and engagement activities to establishing professional networks and recruiting, LinkedIn is being used by individuals, businesses, and even governments to broaden the reach and penetration within target segments. The surprising thing about the growing usage of this particular social media site is that it is not limited only to the Western world, which
has always been the frontrunner in embracing such changes. Rather, the Arab world, particularly the UAE, is seeing a meteoric rise in the number of LinkedIn users. As pointed out above, Facebook and Twitter lead the rankings in terms of the most widely used social media tools, but LinkedIn follows closely. In fact, compared with other countries in the Arab region, the UAE ranks highest in LinkedIn usage. As of October 2014 there were over 9.4 million LinkedIn users in the Arab world, up from 7.6 million users in