LinkedIn Today: The Professional Networking Site Tries Its Hand at News

Professional networking site LinkedIn is making its entry into the news arena, announcing the beta launch of LinkedIn Today, which aggregates the most-shared headlines related to multiple industries by members of the network. LinkedIn Today users can sort their news by connections, industry, and the overall network, as well as seeing what their connections are reading. Up to 22 industries can be followed, as can specific news sources. The product is also deeply integrated with Twitter, allowing users to Tweet trending news to their Twitter accounts, post it to their LinkedIn Groups, or email it to their connections. LinkedIn also announced the release of version 3.6 of its iPhone app, which includes LinkedIn Today. Senior product manager Liz Reaves Walker went into more detail on the LinkedIn Blog: You know and trust most of your connections and coworkers, so if they share an article, it's a good signal that it's something you should be paying attention to. By looking at the news articles being shared across your network and who is sharing it, we can highlight the top stories you should be paying attention to. LinkedIn Today can surface the top few stories you need to read today to be informed on what's happening in your industry or the industries you care about. We've heard from a lot of users that they may work in one industry, but they pay attention to news across multiple industries. For example, maybe they need to stay informed on the industries of their clients, or maybe they closely follow news in the industry they want to work in next. By following industries, you can get the relevant news on your front page and in the top navigation. We'll also send you a weekly email of the top industry headlines across all of the industries you follow. And, no matter how many industries you follow, we will only send you one news email per week. Another unique aspect of LinkedIn Today is the ability to follow multiple industries, and then find the top news across all of those industries in one place. Let's say you work in the Internet industry, and sell to customers in the healthcare industry. With LinkedIn Today, you can follow all of the industries that you care about (Internet, staffing and recruiting, and healthcare), and then come to one place to get all of your news. Within any story that's being shared, you can drill down to see who's shared a given headline. We'll show you the professional identity of the users who shared the story, along with what they are saying to get a sense of the conversation happening around a given article. You can even narrow your results with filters like industry and company. Only LinkedIn gives you this layer of professional identity and search capability on who's sharing or Tweeting an article. Two unique features of the News app on the iPhone are the ability to see what your connections are reading and an option to save articles. Any articles saved on the iPhone will show up under "Saved" on linkedin.com/today, and vice versa. And LinkedIn senior vice president of product and user experience Deep Nishar said in a release: LinkedIn Today provides our members with a quick and easy way to digest trending news gleaned from the collective wisdom of 90 million professionals -- what they are reading, what they are sharing, and what they are saying. Having a professional and tailored lens on news and insights is not only an efficient way to gather information for your work day, but it also arms you with the insights you need to make strategic business decisions.

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LinkedIn Today: The Professional Networking Site Tries Its Hand at News

David Cohen

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