LinkedIn claims over 300 million members

The career-focused social network LinkedIn announced Friday it has 300 million members, with more than half the total outside the United States.

"While this is an exciting moment, we still have a long way to go to realize our vision of creating economic opportunity for every one of the 3.3 billion people in the global workforce," said LinkedIn vice president Deep Nishar in a blog posting.

Nishar said that for future growth, the company believes it will be more important to get people using the network on mobile devices.

"We know mobile is critical," he said.

"Later this year, we are going to hit our mobile moment, where mobile accounts for more than 50 percent of all global traffic. Already, our members in dozens of locations including Costa Rica, Malaysia, Singapore, Sweden, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, use LinkedIn more on their mobile devices than on their desktop computers."

LinkedIn has its headquarters in the Silicon Valley city of Mountain View, California, and is available in more than 200 countries.

Earlier this year, LinkedIn launched a Chinese language version, attempting to tap the huge market while navigating a strict censorship regime that has seen other foreign social media giants banned.

"Our goal is to connect the more than 140 million Chinese professionals with each other and the global workforce," Nishar said.

In China, LinkedIn allows users to post public comments, but unlike its English-language counterpart it does not currently allow group discussions.

The social network launched in 2003 allows members to create professional circles that help their career path, and allows employers and recruiters to locate people with needed skills.

The company went public in 2011 with one of the hottest public offerings in the sector at the time. Its share price has jumped to $175.42 from the IPO price of $45.