It’s big data meeting human resources. And that data, core to LinkedIn’s potential, could catapult the company beyond building careers and into the realms of education, urban development and economic policy. Chief executive Jeff Weiner put it this way in a recent blog post: “Our ultimate dream is to develop the world’s first economic graph,” a sort of digital map of skills, workers and jobs across the global economy.

via LinkedIn connects big data, human resources – The Washington Post.

Gerd adds: mark my words: within 7-10 years, data will become economically and politically more valuable than fossil fuels (oil and gas).