In January, LinkedIn unveiled a complete overhaul of its website, replacing the dated design with a fast and modern interface built from the ground-up. The result evolves LinkedIn into a much simpler and more accessible social network that’s visually similar to the likes of Facebook and Twitter.
Today, the company announced Trending Storylines, a new interest-based feeds system that brings the most important popular news stories into their own pane in the LinkedIn app. Until now, LinkedIn has stayed close to its head-hunting and industry monitoring roots. Trending Storylines is different, expanding LinkedIn to include the wider world beyond the social network.
LinkedIn Trending Storylines
LinkedIn
The feature is similar to Facebook’s trending topics and Twitter’s Moments. It will be curated each day with the most important developing stories tailored to your industry. A combination of algorithms and an editorial team are used to create and rank the stories in the feed. Each post will be assigned its own hashtag that lets you start discussions on the topic and get more information.
LinkedIn said the feature is meant to encourage people to engage on its platform and contribute their perspectives and opinions. By bringing the biggest news stories into its own app, the company can start debate and conversation among knowledgeable professionals most acquainted with featured topics. It also reinforces the company’s growing presence as a general-purpose social network, making it more accessible and useful to new users.
LinkedIn’s new interface 19-01-2017
LinkedIn
Adding news to the app will give people more to do on LinkedIn, increasing engagement and giving the company more opportunities to make revenue from ads and sponsor messages. The company will use its reputation as the professional social network to pitch its news as relevant and accurate. It comes at a time when Facebook is being criticised for enabling fake news to flourish.
“Today we’re excited to announce the launch of Trending Storylines,” said LinkedIn. “Storylines are daily curated interest-based feeds about the most important developing stories in your industry. They help you discover and discuss news, ideas and diverse perspectives from the largest group of professionals, publishers and editorial voices ever assembled.”
LinkedIn’s new interface 19-01-2017
LinkedIn
LinkedIn said it will be expanding the feature through future updates. It intends to add the ability to follow users and topics, letting you keep tabs on developments in stories you’re interested in. This could lead to a Flipboard-style feel where you can curate your own content related to your interests.
Trending Storylines are available from today in the U.S. On mobile, they show up under the “Trending” tab in the LinkedIn app. Storylines are also visible on LinkedIn’s website via the new button at the top right of the page. The company will expand the feature to more countries once the U.S. roll-out is complete.
