LinkedIn announced that it has surpassed the one million publishers milestone. It began letting everyone use its publisher platform in February of last year.

The company says over a million unique publishers publish over 130,000 posts a week, and about 45% of readers are in the upper ranks of their industries, such as managers, VPs, and CEOs. The average post now reaches professionals in 21 industries and 9 countries, it says. In a post on the LinkedIn blog, Daniel Roth writes:

We just reached an incredible milestone for the LinkedIn publishing platform: 1 million professionals have now written a post on LinkedIn. They’ve used the platform to discuss the future of work, the state of their industries, what companies are getting it right and which aren’t and how the professional world can be a better place.

Since our earliest prototype, our goal was always to find a way to unlock the incredible insights stuck in the brains and cubicles of professionals like you. We wanted to make it easy for your ideas or lessons — or even just the start of one — to quickly spark a conversation that leaps silos, companies, industries, even countries. We wanted insight to turn into conversations that make an impact. It worked.

Last month, LinkedIn launched a new version of its Pulse news reader app, which makes use of the user’s LinkedIn network when determining what content to show them.

Marketers are increasing their focus on the professional social network. A recent Social Media Examiner study looked at how marketers are using social media to grow their businesses. It didn’t focus exclusively on LinkedIn, but there are a lot signs within it that point to a bigger focus on the network as time goes on. When allowed to select just one social platform as the most important, 52% of marketers picked Facebook, but 21% picked LinkedIn. It takes the number three spot in terms of those actually being used. It’s also in third place behind Facebook and Twitter in platforms used by those with less than twelve months experience.

Look for LinkedIn’s publisher community to continue to grow steadily.

Image via Flickr, LinkedIn