Why Do Celebrities Have LinkedIn Pages?

A marketing ploy or business move?

Photo by Greg Bulla on Unsplash

Celebrities are…like us? They eat at fast food restaurants, pay bills, and pick up their kids from school. Who knew?

Turns out, celebrities also like to network on LinkedIn — but do they really need it? I’m sure they have agents who can schedule a meeting with some important figure at the snap of a finger.

Over the last two years, I noticed celebrities starting to pop up on LinkedIn. Was this some sort of marketing ploy or real-world use? Do they run their own pages? What is the deal?

I went through a rabbit hole of celebrity pages. I expected the likes of Bill Gates and Tony Robbins to be on the site because they are business figures. I also expect actors-turned-entrepreneurs like Jessica Alba, founder of The Honest Company, and Ashton Kutcher, a notable investor. What I did not expect is NBA player Kevin Durant and singer Selena Gomez to be profiled.

So the main question is this. Why do celebrities have LinkedIn pages?

Some genuinely use LinkedIn

LinkedIn VP and editor-in-chief Dan Roth states most celebrity profiles are authentic. In certain instances, LinkedIn contacted them to collaborate with the website. In other cases, they signed up on their…