LinkedIn hits 100 million members

LinkedIn, the career-oriented social network site said on Tuesday that it has hit 100 million members, more than half of who live outside the United States.

"We're now growing at roughly one million new LinkedIn members every week, the equivalent of a professional joining the site at faster than one member per second," LinkedIn chief executive Jeff Weiner said in a blog post.

Weiner said LinkedIn's ultimate goal is to "connect all of the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful."

"We're most inspired that by connecting talent with opportunity at massive scale, we're changing people's lives in meaningful and sustainable ways," he said.

"Each of our 100 million members has a unique story from finding a job, to recruiting talent, to sourcing new deals, and even starting a business," Weiner said.

LinkedIn released details about its membership to mark the milestone.

Forty-four million of its members are in the United States and 56 million are outside the United States, it said.

LinkedIn grew by 428 percent in Brazil last year over the previous year, by 178 percent in Mexico, by 76 percent in India and 72 percent in France.

Nearly one million members of LinkedIn describe their job as teacher.

Seventy-four are "Elvis tribute artists."

In January, the Mountain View, California-based LinkedIn announced plans to go public and raise an initial public offering of stock to fuel expansion.

The company made a net profit of $10 million on net revenue of $161 million in the first nine months of 2010, according to the LinkedIn filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Facebook, the world's largest social network, boasts more than 500 million members.