• LinkedIn is a social network for professional networking and career development.
• Microsoft acquired LinkedIn nearly a decade ago for a whopping $26.2 billion in cash.
• LinkedIn is free, but a subscription version called LinkedIn Premium offers additional features.

Like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and a dozen others, LinkedIn is a social network. And like other social networks, it's owned by a big tech company: Microsoft.

But unlike most social networks, LinkedIn is a professional networking site, designed to help people make business connections, share their experiences and resumes, and find jobs.

Microsoft bought LinkedIn in 2016 for $26.2 billion in cash. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said at the time that the social network would complement Microsoft's business-focused software, such as Microsoft Office 365, the suite of productivity programs.

Like many tech companies, LinkedIn has had its ups and downs in the post-pandemic years. LinkedIn Premium earned $1.7 billion from subscribers in 2023, executives revealed on a Microsoft earnings call. However, the job cuts that have plagued the tech industry didn't spare the networking site; LinkedIn laid off hundreds of employees in 2023 and 2024.

But despite financial turbulence at the company, LinkedIn is still a valuable networking site used by millions of people and companies all over the world. Here's what you need to know about using the platform:

LinkedIn essentials

Despite the professional focus, LinkedIn is quite similar to social networking sites like Facebook. It's based on principles like connecting to friends (or, in the case of LinkedIn, "connections,"), posting updates, sharing and liking content, and messaging other users.

LinkedIn also puts a professional spin on ideas you know from Facebook. Your profile, for example, becomes a resume, complete with work experience, accomplishments, recommendations, and referrals from colleagues.

The site also offers things you won't find in other places, like a full-featured career board, where you can search for and apply for jobs.

Many employment services are now compatible with LinkedIn — when applying for a position, you may be able to share your LinkedIn profile, which sometimes means you won't need to painstakingly enter your work experience into a long online form.

If you're new to LinkedIn, here's a quick tour around the site.

A quick tour of LinkedIn

• Home is akin to Facebook's news feed. Here you can see posts made by other LinkedIn users, and make your own posts that others can see, like, share, and comment on. Like Facebook, you can limit your posts to just connections in your network, or share your thoughts with everyone.
• My Network is where you can see your existing network of connections, and search for LinkedIn users to invite to join your network. You can also see existing invitations you've received from others.
• Jobs is a comprehensive career site. You can search for and apply for jobs, get information about companies you're interested in, and much more. You can set up notifications and get emails when there are new job postings.
• Messaging leads to an instant messaging platform you can use to chat with people in your network. You can also use it to send messages to people outside your network with something called InMail, if you subscribe to certain tiers of LinkedIn Premium.
• Me is where you can find your profile, which is akin to your resume. Here, you can show your career history by posting your work experience, accomplishments, education, current location, and more. If you have a LinkedIn account, this should be as polished as your actual resume, as you can expect professional connections and recruiters to look at it.

What you can do with LinkedIn

It should be clear that LinkedIn is a tool you can use to enhance your professional networking and job searching activities.

Many people use the site to grow their contacts and find career opportunities, and the Jobs section of the site is a powerful tool for finding and applying for jobs. There are settings on LinkedIn that let you alert recruiters that you're actively job searching as well.

Some people use LinkedIn to enhance their professional reputation by making posts in the news feed, and commenting on other people's posts.

Like most other tech companies in recent years — including Microsoft and its new Copilot tool — LinkedIn has increasingly focused on AI products. LinkedIn has unveiled its own AI-powered writing assistant that can generate personalized suggestions for your profile.

LinkedIn Premium

LinkedIn Premium is a subscription version of LinkedIn that adds a number of additional features, such as online professional development classes, insights into who's viewing your profile, and the ability to instant message anyone on LinkedIn, even if they're not in your network.

LinkedIn Premium offers four types of plans with different price points, depending on your needs. Premium Career is for professionals and job-seekers looking to further their careers, while Premium Business, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter Lite are for employers, businesses, or sales professionals.

The most popular plan, LinkedIn Premium Career, costs $39.99 for one month, or you can purchase an annual package for $239.88. You can also try a one-month free trial.

• Microsoft OneDrive is a cloud storage service that lets you backup, sync, or share your files.
• Microsoft OneDrive comes with a Microsoft 365 subscription, but there is also a free version.
• You can use OneDrive on devices like computers, laptops, tablets, phones, and even Xboxes.

OneDrive is Microsoft's cloud-based online storage solution.

Most OneDrive users get access as a part of a Microsoft 365 subscription, which includes Microsoft Office and 1TB of OneDrive storage space. But you can also get a free OneDrive account with 5GB of space.

OneDrive lets you keep files that you create and store on your computer in sync with the cloud. You can connect any number of other devices, such as laptops, phones, tablets, and even your Xbox with OneDrive, letting you keep those files in sync and making them available from anywhere.

In addition, OneDrive lets you back up specific locations from your computer to the cloud. If you turn this feature on, you can automatically keep files stored on your Desktop, in the Documents folder, and photos in your Pictures folder on your OneDrive, effectively giving you a reliable automatic backup of your most critical files.

In 2024, Microsoft also incorporated its Copilot AI tool into OneDrive, enabling features like a chat mode, where you can ask Copilot questions, and AI-curated summaries and comparisons of your files.

How to get started with OneDrive

In Windows 11, OneDrive has been deeply integrated into the operating system, making it easy to configure and use. Even if you are using a different operating system, though — such as a Mac or Windows 8 — using OneDrive is still quite similar.

Here are the main things you need to know.

Sign in and start using OneDrive

If you are using OneDrive for the first time, you'll first need to download it — if it isn't already installed — and sign in. After you sign in to your OneDrive account, you'll be prompted to configure the service based on your needs.

Use OneDrive to back up files on your computer

By default, OneDrive can keep the files on your computer's OneDrive folder in sync with the cloud. But you can also enable a continuously synced OneDrive backup of the Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders.

To do this on a PC, open Settings, navigate to the Sync and backup tab, hit Manage backup, and toggle whichever folders are labeled Not backed up.

For a Mac, select the OneDrive icon in your Menu bar, then open Preferences, navigate to the Backup tab, hit Manage backup, and click Start backup for any folders that aren't already backed up.

Share OneDrive files with other people

OneDrive makes it easy to share individual files or even entire folders with other people. You can invite people to share your files or share a link to those shared files.

There are several different ways to share files and folders on OneDrive, including passing along a "Share" link and using the OneDrive "Share" button.

Delete files from OneDrive

Need to remove a file, document, or photo? There are a couple of ways to delete files from OneDrive, but you should know it will remove the file across your OneDrive enabled devices.

For Windows users, click File Explorer on your task bar, then select your OneDrive folder. Select all of the items within that folder that you want to delete, and press Delete.

For Mac users, open Finder, find the OneDrive folder, select the items you want to delete, and drag and drop them into Trash.

Stop OneDrive from syncing

You might need to pause syncing temporarily or permanently stop OneDrive from syncing a particular folder on your computer.

To do this on Windows or Mac devices, right-click the OneDrive icon on your taskbar. To pause syncing, choose whichever length of time you'd like to temporarily stop syncing for. To permanently stop syncing, click Quit OneDrive.