What Users Post and Engage With on LinkedIn: A Mixed Methods Study

LinkedIn is the world’s largest online professional network where users can post content to achieve professional goals and convey a professional presence online. Most academic studies about LinkedIn overlook the content of these posts. Therefore, this study systematically analyzes what topics LinkedIn users post about and identifies the content that garners the most engagement. Upon conducting a thematic analysis and nonparametric tests of 1,001 users’ posts, this study categorized each post into five main themes: Business, Personal, Expertise, Interpersonal, and Observances. While Business posts were found to be the most frequent, Interpersonal and Observance posts generate more comments and reactions comparatively. Meanwhile, Business and Expertise posts get reposted more frequently. These findings provide empirical evidence of what users talk about on the platform, which enables further academic study of how users leverage the platform to achieve their professional goals and convey a professional presence to their networks. They also provide practical implications for users seeking to maximize their engagement and outcomes on the platform.