Every company, college and worker in the world may soon be more connected than ever before. That is the hope of LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD), which has just released a set of new apps to do just that.
“We’d like to step out of the way and allow all of these nodes to connect such that they can maximize value,” said Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn’s CEO, at its Mobile Day event in San Francisco on Wednesday.
The professional network recently launched a mobile app for recruiters. While only about 8% of LinkedIn users connected through mobile devices in early 2011, that number is now near 38%, and expected to be half of all users next year. And mobile users are more than twice as active than those who access the service on PCs.
The revamped iPad app includes a fresh design, meant to be easier to navigate and that includes personalized content based on users’ jobs and interests.
A news reader app called Pulse will offer recommendations for news articles, as well as stories from LinkedIn’s so-called influencers; that is, those using the network as a content marketing platform. The company says this app will be available soon.
And an app called LinkedIn Intro adds pictures and snippets from contacts’ LinkedIn profiles to Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) built-in iPhone email app. It also offers a button that users can click on to connect with their LinkedIn contacts. The service works with Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail and others as well.
As with the launch of the Obamacare sign-up website, there were a few glitches with LinkedIn’s new apps. Some frustrated users were unable to log in to the website. But so far, no one is calling this launch a train wreck.
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