56% of LinkedIn's Social Media users live outside the United States

  

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Commonly mischaracterized as Facebook's stodgy cousin, LinkedIn's more sterling attributes have recently undergone some newsworthy polishing.

 The milestone of all milestones, the professional's social network surpassed 100 million users this year on March 22—and its popularity continues to spread fast. Most especially among the international crowd: 56% of LinkedIn's users live outside the United States. Brazil, Mexico, India, and France account for the countries with the most users.

And even earlier this year, near the end of January, the company submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission the paperwork necessary to get underway its initial public offering. The IPO is expected to happen soon but there's still no immediate numbers about when the offering will occur, how many shares will be available, or how much everything will cost. We are expecting information and detail on this within the coming months.

Somewhat surprisingly, LinkedIn first became profitable in 2010 by earning $10.1 million. Its gains came from job listings, marketing solutions, and premium subscriptions, all of which subscribers pay a premium for—however, they quickly see a return on their investment. Proving that social media and pay per click is the way of the future.

As for the site's new trimmings, users are apparently in for a treat. Supposedly there are many, including: a "cooler" resume builder, a tool to create a colorful picture of your network, and another to see—by year—who in your network has switched jobs. If you need a tutorial on these new tricks, you can always go to: http://learn.linkedin.com/ for help.

To add some perspective, Facebook reached 500 million users last July and though it's made gestures of IPO preparation, there's still no official word about when. Congratulations LinkedIn for possibly being the first to outshine Facebook in recent years.