Barbie, the iconic Mattel doll who’s held hundreds of careers and who became an astronaut long before any American man or woman landed on the moon, has broken another barrier: She has joined LinkedIn.
This is massive news, not just for the Entrepreneur Barbie doll that launched in stores this month (retailing for $12.99, people. Update those Christmas shopping lists), but for fictional characters of all stripes. Currently, most imaginary business owners, household names like Moe Szyslak of the Simpsons or Tony Stark of Iron Man, have presences on Facebook or Twitter. Fewer have found their way to LinkedIn, a platform that up until now has been more important for networking between real people who aren’t the figment of anyone’s imagination.
Related: Got a Career or Business Question? Ask Barbie.
There are exceptions. Jay Gatsby has a LinkedIn profile. So does Walter White. But fictional female professionals remain underrepresented. For example, neither Mildred Pierce, Scarlett O’Hara or Lucy from Peanuts have gotten around to their profiles at this writing. (None of these imaginary characters could be reached for comment).
Related: Introducing Entrepreneur Barbie
Right now, Barbie is the only known Molded American to join the career site (neither Jem nor her Holograms have joined, nor any of the My Little Ponies). Technically, this is just a showcase page for Mattel but currently, she has 984 human followers, placing her in the top half of LinkedIn Users, safely in the realm of ‘serious networkers. ’ That number is a reminder to us real people that it is likely time to step it up as far as our own online networking is concerned.
