Celebrities Like Ryan Reynolds Are Piling into LinkedIn Now, Giving Everyone a Look Behind the Glitzy Curtain

LinkedIn is not a platform that we generally associate with celebrities and actors. However, actor Ryan Reynolds has a flourishing LinkedIn profile that offers a look behind the glitzy curtain.

LinkedIn is popular among professionals and is in some ways the Facebook or Instagram for professionals.

The platform has 930 million members spread across 200 countries but like most other US-based social media companies, it is not available in China.

LinkedIn shut down in website in China in 2021 amid the country’s tech crackdown. It is also shutting down InCareer – the job application site that it launched in China in 2021 after shutting down the main site.

Reynolds has just under 2.5 million followers on LinkedIn which makes him among the most popular influencers on the platform – Bill Gates leads the charts with 35.9 million followers in 2022.

Richard Branson came second with 19.7 million followers while researcher and storyteller Brene Brown held the 20th spot with 3.37 million followers.

Typically, celebrities use Instagram and Twitter to connect with their fans. However, celebrities using LinkedIn is not exactly a surprise as many of them have sprawling business empires.

Reynolds Describes Himself as a “Business-Owner”

For instance, Reynolds describes himself as a “part-time actor” and “business owner” on LinkedIn. In his profile, he says, “I’ve been acting for three decades now, which might be described as “a proven track record” or “delivering consistent results” on LinkedIn.”

He adds, “In recent years, I’ve built what The Wall Street Journal recently called “a business empire.” Still trying to figure out what they meant by that.”

Reynolds is associated with multiple businesses and is the co-founder of Maximum Effort and The Creative Ladder. He is also the owner of Mint Mobile and Aviation American Gin.

Alpine F1 Team secures a €200m injection valuing the team over €900 million.

One of the investors is Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort Investments, a move that is bound to see media and marketing implications for the French team. pic.twitter.com/6MNV8B4uhq

— Vincenzo Landino (@vincenzolandino) June 26, 2023

Reynolds started these businesses in recent years and none of them is older than 2018. Last month, Maximum Efforts invested in the Alpine F1 team as the actor continues to expand his business empire.

Celebrities Like Reynolds Are Turning to LinkedIn as They Transform Into Business Owners

Facebook remains the world’s most-used social media platform while Alphabet-owned YouTube comes second. The next two positions are held by WhatsApp and Instagram – which are also owned by Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms.

Meta has also launched its new social media platform Threads to take on Twitter. It hasn’t yet launched Threads in the EU though as the Mark Zuckerburg-run company battles the region’s data protection regulators.

When it comes to social media marketing also, Meta Platforms is the leader. According to the “Digital 2023 April Global Statshot” report, 21.5% of working professionals aged between 16 to 64 said that their company uses Facebook for social media marketing.

18.2% and 16.6% of the users respectively said that their companies use Instagram and WhatsApp for social media marketing. 13.6% of users said that their companies used YouTube for social media marketing while LinkedIn came fifth with 13.2%.

Social Media Companies are Warming Up To Generative AI

LinkedIn is among the fastest-growing brands globally and according to Kantar, it was the seventh fastest-growing brand in 2022. Also, on the list were Tesla, YouTube, and Louis Vuitton.

Meanwhile, social media companies including Snap, Facebook, and LinkedIn are using generative AI tools to help advertisers create better campaigns.

The AI euphoria has helped propel US stock markets, especially the tech names higher.

The US stock markets had a strong first half and the Nasdaq 100 gained almost 40% to have its best first-half performance ever. The Nasdaq Composite also rose 31.7% and had the best start to the year in four decades.

The S&P 500’s performance was relatively muted with around 15% returns but that’s because of the broad-based composition of the index – unlike the Nasdaq which is tech-heavy.

Morgan Stanley analysts believe that LinkedIn’s parent company Microsoft might also join the $3 trillion market cap as the company monetizes its generative AI business.

As more celebrities like Reynolds turn to LinkedIn, the platform’s reach would increase further helping it to better monetize its growing user base.

As for users, it might also provide more insights into the lives of celebrities – something which was so far mainly restricted to platforms like Instagram.

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