US TODAY -- Mar 12 -- As the job market heats up, interest in online business networking is starting to soar - turning a one-time novelty into a necessity for millions of business professionals in search of jobs or business contacts. LinkedIn went live in 2003 and had 8,500 members by the end of that year. Today, it has 9 million, and much of the explosion in growth has occurred in the past year. Companies can pay for corporate accounts where they get extra benefits, paying $10,000 to $250,000/yr. Membership includes all 500 of the Fortune 500. FULL ARTICLE @ YAHOO NEWS



Mark Brooks: LinkedIn was built on a solid base of Silicon Valley professionals, just as Facebook was built on a high integrity seed of Harvard students. LinkedIn took a lot longer to build but may be a more enduring and more profitable business in the long run, if it can keep it's monopoly. Where's Plaxo in this picture. They are about to miss the boat!