Recent attention in the social space has focused almost entirely on Facebook, with its 900 million users, 28-year-old celebrity CEO and bumpy initial public offering. In the first month after its May 18 IPO Facebook stock skidded an embarrassing 17%. Hardly anyone noticed, meanwhile, that LinkedIn shares have leaped 64% this year…

LinkedIn’s success ultimately is rooted in timing. Not the technology, which is a given, but rather the changing workplace ethos. When executives like the 42-year-old Weiner were growing up, the theory was that companies provided a career for life. Creating a public profile that could win recruiters’ attention would have seemed rude and risky.

Then came a barrage of layoffs, mergers and strategic zigzags that sent entire corporate divisions to the scrap heap. The average baby boomer was likely to have held 11 jobs over the course of his or her career, including “large numbers of short-duration jobs even at middle age,” said the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2010. So employees at all skill levels returned the favor. They stopped feeling much loyalty to their employer of the moment. Filling out a LinkedIn profile started seeming downright wise.

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