The growing attraction of social networking sites for financial investors has pushed the paper value of LinkedIn to over $1bn (£508m), according to the company's chief executive Dan Nye.

LinkedIn recently secured an additional $53m of funding from venture capitalists Bain Capital, taking the total raised to $80m.

The company, which as set up five years ago and recently opened an office London has over a million UK members, six million in Europe and 23 million worldwide.

Rival social networking site Facebook is currently valued at $15bn, after Microsoft invested $240m for a 1.6 per cent stake in the company in October last year.