What is LinkedIn doing right? Unlike most social sites, such as Facebook, Zynga and Groupon, which have been hammered in the stock market, LinkedIn keeps winning Wall Street’s admiration. After LinkedIn reported strong quarterly results late yesterday, shares of the professional-network company jumped 7.3%, to $100.31 apiece, in after-hours trading.

LinkedIn didn’t just “beat the estimates.” It has put together a playbook that harnesses the great strengths of social media in ways that translate into unusually reliable profit growth.

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