Content Matters

LinkedIn took the wraps off the beta version of their new user interface today.

The "borrowed" aspect would be the more prominent positioning given to the "Network Updates" section, taking a page from Facebook's news feeds.  They've also added a "Company news" section, which pulls web news content, tied to your company or industry as well as what others in your network are reading.

 

LinkedIn also announced today the launch of their API, what they call their Intelligent Applications Platform.  The first three apps are internally built widgets for People Search, Job Search and Answers.  They have also announced a partnership with Business Week whereby links within Business Week content will link directly to a pop-up box showing the user the number of LinkedIn contacts they have who are tied to that keyword.

 

The Intelligent Applications Platform will support two types of applications:

1. Bringing LinkedIn content into your own website or application via API or widget
2. Developing your own applications to run within LinkedIn, leveraging OpenSocial.  According to the LinkedIn blog, they will maintain some level of filtering or control over the apps that can run on their platform.  Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn will manage the flow of new apps to ensure relevancy to their business market.  That's probably a good thing for both users and publishers.

The goals of the new site appear fairly straightforward.  LinkedIn is trying to reposition itself as more of a destination social network site, as opposed to a tool used periodically for specific tasks.  That's critical if they are to increase their page views.  As I've described previously, only about a third of LinkedIn users login at least once per quarter, as compared to nearly 60% of Facebook users who log in on a daily basis.

 

That said, LinkedIn has an advantage over Facebook today in that it has more than 15 million users who already use it for business purposes.  While it may not match the hype of Facebook, the LinkedIn platform could enable b2b content providers to actually make money.