LinkedIn launches business news service

Social site lets users share and post industry-relevant news

IT leaders will inevitably be keen to know what their peers are reading and a new service from professional social networking site LinkedIn will allow them to share the stories that most interest them with their contacts.

The service, called LinkedIn Today, will allow users to view a customised online newspaper from articles being shared by its 90-million-user base.

LinkedIn Today allows members to access their professional news in three ways: according to their connections, industry, and the broader global professional network.

The company hopes this will encourage its users to interact more with its website.

"You know and trust most of your connections and coworkers, so if they share an article, it's a good sign that it's something that will probably be of interest to you. By looking at the news articles being shared across your network and who is sharing it, we can highlight the top stories you should be paying attention to," wrote Liz Reaves Walker, Senior Product Manager at LinkedIn on the LinkedIn blog.

She added that today, all users can go to www.linkedin.com/today to see the day's top headlines, and over the next few weeks the site will increase the number of entry points on the homepage and in the navigation.