LinkedIn doesn't want you to think of it as a mere list of who has what gig, and where they're going next. It wants to be the site you come back to again and again to find out what the people in your industry are up to, thinking, and writing on a daily basis.
The professional social network on Tuesday launched a "follow" feature that will allow the site's users to follow one another's posts without having to officially connect (something the site recommends you do only with people you know). More interestingly, LinkedIn is also rolling out a long-form publishing tool -- basically a blogging tool -- so people can post lengthier, media-rich updates to their profile pages. Both tools will be available on the desktop site and LinkedIn's mobile apps.
"We think that content is one way that we can make users more productive and successful on LinkedIn. When you come on LinkedIn, we show you stuff that you need to pay attention to, to be better at your job," LinkedIn Head of Content Products Ryan Roslansky told Wired. "We see this as a natural evolution. You can follow a company, an industry, a publisher, etc. -- being able to follow other members and what they say on LinkedIn is just the next step."
In essence, these new features mean LinkedIn users can now generate and consume original content on the site. They give LinkedIn creative tools similar to those available on social sites like Facebook and Google+. It's a sign that LinkedIn is making strides to become more than a place to store your online resume. And with each of its recent updates, the professional social network is beginning to more and more resemble its social networking cousins.
With its Twitter partnership cut off, LinkedIn released several product updates in order to populate its Activity Feed with more relevant information. The recently redesigned Home Page places more attention on sharing, as well as liking and commenting on other people's posts. It also presents the most relevant stories in your network. For example, my Home Page tends to show more technology-related articles. LinkedIn plans to use the same approach with the new follow feature -- if a real estate expert shares a long post on her marketing tips, LinkedIn will ensure that content reaches the other real estate professionals' feeds on the network.
"It just seems like a natural next step for them, to create a central place where business discussions can be accessed," David Edelman, a partner at McKinsey & Company, told Wired. "Different social media have different roles. Twitter is absolutely useful for exposing content. I think what LinkedIn is offering is a broader blogging platform. They have a lot of similar features to other social networks, but the main thing is access to targeted business communities."
These content-related features are also closely tied to the goals of the company's global redesign: drive more engagement and sharing and surface more relevant content to people's activity feeds. LinkedIn has already been experimenting with similar products. Last year, the company launched LinkedIn Today, which aggregates stories from third-party publishers. According to LinkedIn, it's a huge traffic driver -- it claims more than 1 million publishers now have a LinkedIn share button on their sites -- and user engagement with Today has climbed 150 percent year over year. It also recently launched a more casual social network feature with Notifications.
Although many of the updates borrow from other social networking sites, LinkedIn doesn't see itself as operating in the same world as its social media counterparts.
"What we're really focused on, and it sounds kind of trite, is making our members more successful and productive," Roslansky said. "I don't think that we necessarily bucket ourselves with other social networks. LinkedIn is about a lot more."
The two new features aren't available to everybody just yet. LinkedIn has identified a limited group of around 150 users as key influencers. These are high-level, so-called thought leaders like President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney, as well as industry-specific influencers like talent agent Ari Emanuel and Atlantic technology editor Alexis Madrigal. The blogging tool is also limited to the initial group of of users, though LinkedIn promises that both features will eventually roll out to everyone on the network. What's more, the initial batch of followable users will also be able to see insights into their followers.
"What we do well and what we're really excited about is not only do we tell you that 1,000 people followed you, but here's the industries that they're in, here's the companies that they're in," Roslansky explained. "We leverage the profile data that we have as well. Here are the exact people and what they do and their functions -- it should help you tailor content for your audience."
Even once these new features are rolled out across the board, LinkedIn's biggest struggle will be getting people to visit the site more often.
"The trick will be for people to see LinkedIn as a place for them to regularly go," Edelman, who is one of the initial followable users on LinkedIn, says. "Instead of just being a reference and employment tool, it is pivoting to become a media tool. I think making this bigger move by investing in a bunch of thought leaders is smart."
But while this is a significant push in the media space, LinkedIn doesn't want to couch itself as a soon-to-be media company.
"I don't like this notion of pigeonholing ourselves. LinkedIn is about a lot of things but it centers around connecting people," Roslansky said. "I wouldn't necessarily bucket us as anything except executing against [our mission]."
