A New Wrinkle Added to LinkedIn
LinkedIn has become an increasingly popular business hub, with over 65 million users connected together to engage in a free-flow of business ideas, information and potential business ventures and to (re)discover contacts. The network allows users to link up with others within three degrees of separation. As such, it affords the user the chance to control what information of theirs is visible to those who are not a part of their network.
Seemingly in an under-the-radar fashion (perhaps thanks to social media behemoth Facebook‘s recent OpenGL API launch and new “like” buttons), LinkedIn has added a significant feature of their own: new link-sharing features.
Now, when you post a link into your status a drop-down appears containing a thumbnail image from the article, as well as an excerpt. Along with this, you have the ability to pick and choose who sees each post with an option to delete or edit. Also, each post can be jettisoned to your Twitter account automatically, thanks to their new short URL: lnkd.in.
So, the (65) million dollar question is simply: will this work? Clearly the folks at LinkedIn think so, and they’re willing to wager that professionals will utilize these new features similarly to how they would through Facebook and Twitter. Could the link (re) sharing features remove the business networking flavor that has been the site’s bread and butter since the get-go, or will they in fact be the tonic needed to cement LinkedIn with the social media heavy hitters? Ultimately, the barometer of success will come down to whether or not users buy what the site is trying to sell to them.
By Mike Fossano