Nearly a third of professionals have set up an online professional profile, research showed this week.

A study of more than 2,000 professionals commissioned by business network LinkedIn showed that 29% now have an online business profile.

More than one-fifth of those who did have a profile said they had made new business contacts as a result, and 17% had secured new business. Almost half of all people questioned thought an online profile would help them to secure a new job.

Cristina Hoole, European Marketing Director at LinkedIn, said professionals were ‘embracing online branding as an essential part of their professional lives’.

LinkedIn has 2.5 million members in the UK, and claims that one in every three professionals in London is a member. To join the Gazette’s own LinkedIn group go to http://tinyurl.com/nfrxny