LinkedIn, the social media platform for professionals, has become the fastest-loading social media website in 2023, according to a study by web design company DigitalSilk.
The study was based on apps that have website versions and evaluated both mobile and desktop launch speeds of the apps.
According to the study, LinkedIn loaded in 0.33 seconds, more than half the time of some other popular apps on the list.
This doesn’t come as a surprise because the year is 2023 and top talent is in very high demand.
With LinkedIn increasingly becoming the social media app of choice for decision makers, aka high paying companies, C-suite leaders, recruiters and top talent, the app seems to prioritize launch speed which is a contributory factor to user retention, particularly for a somewhat niche app that it is.
Coming in second place is Mastodon, with an average of 0.40 seconds for loading times and Snapchat is the third fastest loading app with the multimedia messaging platform taking an average of 0.45 seconds to load.
In fourth place is Pinterest, with an average load time of 0.65 seconds. As of April 2023, the app has 463 million monthly active users. Most unexpected fifth place app is Jack Dorsey owned Twitter alternative, Bluesky which loads in 0.78 seconds.
Elon Musk’s Twitter, currently known as ‘X’, comes in ninth of all sites studied, with an average of 1.76 seconds to load in full. Facebook, the most visited social media website, was displaced from the top 10 as it was found to have a loading time of 2.47 seconds on average.
Commenting on the findings, Gabriel Shaoolian, CEO & Founder of DigitalSilk.com, said, “All of these sites in the top ten load on average between one and two seconds on average, and that aligns with consumers’ expectations that their web browsing experience should be smooth and instantaneous. The lesson for business owners is clear, they need to make sure that their website loading times on both desktop and mobile are slick and responsive, to ensure that all potential customers get a high quality user experience.”