LinkedIn - What is the ultimate purpose?

LinkedIn can position itself as a leader if and only if it addresses the central anxiety of people in our society, at this particular time of history.

The particular definition or phrasing of that anxiety is important.

Are people today most anxious about

1. finding a job?
2. finding a secure job?
3. increasing their professional value?
4. increasing their salary?
5. finding and developing their marketable talent?
6. improving their ability to learn how to learn (in order to continually adapt to the evolving economy)?

Since LinkedIn is a mass social software, it probably won't focus on any one of these anxieties, but try to address them all.

Therefore, it will be up to users to figure out what exactly is the main problem they are trying to solve in their own lives, and how they can use LinkedIn to their own advantage.

Otherwise, LinkedIn will just become yet another one of those new Web novelties that makes VC people feel they might be on to the "next big thing" without actually providing any concrete value to users.