When LinkedIn launched, on May 5, 2003, it wasn’t a given that it would thrive. Born during the doldrums after the original dotcom bust, it arrived at the same time as a flurry of other social networking upstarts, most of which quickly fizzled. Its emphasis on members’ professional lives rather than personal pursuits was seen by some as a strategic blunder. Even the notion of posting your résumé in public was jarringly unfamiliar and likely to be taken as an act of disloyalty.
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