andreas jonsson

CEO @Shield: Get all posts from all your people, all in one dashboard. Stats and analytics for LinkedIn. Learn what works. Get in touch 💬

@TheShieldIndex — LinkedIn benchmarks at www.theshieldindex.com ↗

@Shield — LinkedIn analytics for creators, team, and agencies at www.shieldapp.ai ↗

@bootstrap.university — for founders going from zero to ramen without investors at www.bootstrap.university ↗

CEO, Co-founder

Redefining LinkedIn analytics since 2019.

#shieldapp #weareshield

typical impressions per post on LinkedIn:

0–1,000 followers = 167 impressions
1,000–5,000 followers = 466 impressions
5,000–10,000 followers = 733 impressions
10,000–25,000 followers = 1,121 impressions
25,000–50,000 followers = 2,392 impressions
50,000–100,000 followers = 4,484 impressions

what feels weak may in fact just be normal.

TheShieldIndex

andreas jonsson 🛠

CEO @Shield, @TheShieldIndex (LinkedIn follower benchmarks and more @ theshieldindex.com)

LinkedIn profiles with fewer than 500 followers produced the biggest reach outliers in November.

Small accounts. Biggest outliers. That's right.

When we normalized reach vs follower count, this bracket showed 10,000%+ reach rates. By far the most volatile and most viral distribution across any follower group.

My read: No account is "too small" to produce elite-level reach. Small accounts aren't neglected by the algorithm. If anything, the opposite seems true.

I wonder if smaller accounts are where LinkedIn tests viral distribution mechanics? 

I don't know - what do you think?

www.theshieldindex.com

CEO @Shield, @TheShieldIndex (LinkedIn reach & format benchmarks @ theshieldindex.com) | Founder @bootstrap.university

January 2026 edition live: www.theshieldindex.com

LinkedIn reach benchmarks by The Shield Index

One thing does keep increasing as LinkedIn accounts grow.

Baseline reach.

November and December data shows that while reach rates compress, typical (absolute) reach continues to rise with follower count.

Bigger audience → Higher floor.

My personal view: “More followers” shouldn’t be the goal. It should be the byproduct.

Of consistently good work. 
Done in public. 
Over time.

Across ~100,000 posts in November and December, images quietly dominated LinkedIn distribution.

Not on viral spikes, but on baseline reach.

Images consistently led on typical and strong reach. Nothing flashy, just predictable distribution. Maybe that's why the feed is half-full of them.

Sometimes the system doesn't reward what's exciting, it rewards what it can reliably score.

And right now that seems to be posts with images.

You seeing this?

Big LinkedIn accounts don't lose reach. They lose volatility. 

November & December data show that once profiles crossed roughly 25k followers, typical reach settled around 5-7% and breakout upside narrowed (fewer true viral outliers).

Compare that to sub-500 follower accounts which continued to show multi-thousand % breakout reach. 

My read for larger accounts: Fewer extremes. More predictability. 

Which might explain why LinkedIn growth feels different at scale.

Why are we building TheShieldIndex?

Because "consistency" isn't a strategy. And "post more" is vague AF. You need more than that. And we're bringing it.

1. Real benchmarks
Is your reach actually good for your follower range? Or just coping?

2. Content format momentum
What's gaining traction right now? And what is LinkedIn quietly dialing down?

3. Reach drivers
What is actually moving distribution? Likes? Comments? Reposts? Something else?

No guru takes. Just patterns from real data.

Next Index: Jan 14, 2026. 
Based on 50,000 posts from December.

www.theshieldindex.com ↗

i have not been talking bootstrapping much lately
mostly because i've been bootstrapping
build ship sell, the full thing, end to end
yeah it went well, thanks for asking
despite all the improvements we didn't ship
once more i learned the valuable lesson of creative restraint: what's most valuable is not what you add, but what you take away - especially for day one. the rest comes later.

In December, most people in the 5k-50k follower range saw reach drop.

There was only one follower bracket in December that gained a broad lift in reach, meaning reach was up across typical (median), strong (top 25%), top (top 10%) and breakout (top 1%) reach tiers.

Guess which one.

PS this is what we track in TheShieldIndex: not what to post but what the system is doing

I'm a Chartered Psychologist with over two decades of experience helping high-performers and global organisations unlock peak performance through the lens of sustainable success. High performance and high wellbeing are inextricably linked; peak performance is only possible long-term when one does not come at the cost of the other.

My work focuses on the Human-Powered Advantage: the specific psychological capabilities that provide a competitive edge in an era dominated by AI. I help leaders and teams master the mindset and agility required to thrive in the future of work by prioritising what actually matters.

To date, over seven million people have taken my LinkedIn Learning courses to sharpen their professional edge. Each week, I share "Notocols" via my newsletters with 700,000+ subscribers - short experiments designed to help you reclaim your attention, move with clarity, and maintain focus in a high-pressure world.

___________

I partner with global organisations and forward-thinking brands to navigate the intersection of human psychology and the future of work:

→  Strategic Consultation & Facilitation
Hosting high-level workshops and sessions using The Elite Five - my signature framework designed to help teams develop the human capabilities and psychological agility required to lead in an AI-dominated era.

→  Keynotes & Thought Leadership 
Collaborating with organisations to champion sustainable success, focusing on peak performance and high wellbeing without the cost of burnout.

___________

Learn and connect:
→ LinkedIn Learning: Join over 7 million learners mastering the skills for the future of work.
→ The Micro-Moment on Substack: A rebellion to reclaim your attention in a world designed to steal it, one experiment at a time.
→ Psychologically Speaking Podcast: Deep dives into the everyday science of human potential.
→ Instagram: Daily insights into the psychology of high performance.

___________

Get in touch 👇🏻
To help my team prioritise what actually matters and get back to you quickly, please use the email addresses below:
- Partnerships, commercial & speaking: commercial@gemmaleighroberts.com
- Podcast & general enquiries: hello@gemmaleighroberts.com (note: My LinkedIn inbox is not monitored).

taplio

The Battle

andreas jonsson

Gemma Roberts

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Scoreandreas jonsson's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

andreas jonsson

Gemma Roberts

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}andreas jonsson's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance Scoreandreas jonsson's LinkedIn Performance