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LinkedIn Lauches a Social News Site

Greg Sterling on March 10, 2011 at 4:32 pm

If Digg and its myriad imitators were part of “social news 1.0” then a recent wave of personalized news sites, including Flipboard and Zite for the iPad, among others represent social news 2.0 (sorry). You can add LinkedIn today to that list.

This is a breakout product for the company that could become highly successful and build much increased levels of engagement and potentially even revenue. Whereas many of the personalized or social news platforms have little or no brand recognition, LinkedIn’s brand is much more visible and widely known.

LinkedIn Today is entirely consistent with that brand. It’s at once obvious and seems to come out of nowhere.

Until very recently LinkedIn appeared to be a staid and stodgy network beside the sexier and faster-moving Facebook and Twitter. However, Linkedin Today may change all that.

The creation of LinkedIn Groups and Twitter integration made LinkedIn somewhat more “engaging” and increased usage frequency. Now LinkedIn Today has the capacity to dramatically increase usage and create a new daily (or more frequent) news habit.

The site is totally algorithmically generated; there are no humans involved. Users can follow news publications/blogs or industries. Their contacts and connections also help determine what items gets surfaced on the site.

As I mentioned it now seems like an obvious move in a way. But it certainly wasn’t obvious I’m sure. Credit CEO Jeff Weiner and his team for their creativity. This also spices things up for investors before the company’s coming IPO.

About The Author

Greg Sterling

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog, Screenwerk, about connecting the dots between digital media and real-world consumer behavior. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.