Is it really "all about who you know"? "I was never turned down when I asked someone to tell me about themselves, their job, and their company. People love to talk about themselves! Scheduling face-to-face meetings really helped me figure out if I wanted to work at a company or if there were other opportunities I didn’t know about previously. This is how I got my current role at LinkedIn! "

It's not ALL about who you know. But who you know can help. 

I checked - out of 9 companies I worked for, I was directly referred to 5, all of them without even me asking for it! I am really surprised - both by the fact itself and that I had never thought of this before.

Yes, that is surprising. It demonstrates that who you know can help.