Professional network LinkedIn has launched a new feature that provides its users with a personalised news service. But are you more likely to visit the site or still just see it as a place to house your CV?
As more and more social networks are launched and more and more people join them, it’s near impossible to say exactly how one person will use any given platform compared to another. For instance, Tumblr is primarily a place to share and reblog photos and quotes, but some use it as an online store for their products, a library to keep audio files or to even set up their company home page, like digital agency Rabbit.
In comparison a network like LinkedIn serves a professional purpose and although you can become more involved by say syncing your tweets or joining groups, I’d guess that for most people it isn’t the first place they’d go to for up-to-date information.
However, last week LinkedIn launched LinkedIn Today, an extra service which aggregates information from around the Internet, serving up tailored content that is about the user’s professional interests and networks which has also proved popular amongst a user’s friends.
As an important addition, and to make the content as relevant to the individual user as possible, there’s the functionality to customise the type of news that you receive.
Many believe that the brand is trying to increase traffic and user engagement through this new addition and people could certainly flock toward the service, but it will have to prove its worth first. Most people you talk to have a preferred method of finding current and relevant content already, whether it’s through a feed reader or even tweets.
I certainly see the benefit of LinkedIn and have made some important professional connections over the last year, but its still really only a place to house my CV that I’ll visit every few days. Let’s see if this new service changes the way we see the platform and drives people to use it in more ways than fending off recruiters and checking to see who’s been stalking your profile.
Becca Caddy is a BitchBuzz Tech columnist and freelance writer. You can follow her @beccacaddy or read her blog beccacaddy.com.
Image via nan palmero's Flickr