Of the three main social networks, LinkedIn always seems to be trailing behind Facebook and Twitter somewhat when it comes to new advances in technology. Several years after Facebook introduced brand pages and the opportunity to post status updates from a company, LinkedIn has adopted the same service.

What this means is that a company can post short updates up to 500 characters long which can contain short links and media. This link will show up in the newsfeed of any followers.

In theory, with LinkedIn’s more serious and businesslike persona, this is a good opportunity for businesses to share more serious information. It could also make hiring new talent, sharing new products and sourcing information a lot easier too, without alienating customers.. Additionally, it may be more inviting to businesses that don’t want to deal with a lot of spam, abuse or advertising on their page.

For LinkedIn, I suspect this is a move to encourage users to visit more often, and stay for longer. On average, users visit the site 2.8 times per month and visits 29 pages a month. More interaction from brands could help increase traffic, both in frequency and length.

It still feels very much like a place we ‘should’ be, rather than ‘want’ to be, particularly as it lacks the lighthearted atmosphere Twitter offers, or the extensive network of friends and personal information Facebook boasts.

They are getting there though. Recent updates on the iPhone and iPad apps have made it far easier to use, and bloggers and PRs are catching onto the fact that LinkedIn can be a positive traffic source if they post the right content. In fact, Tech Crunch recently admitted that LinkedIn now beats twitter for referral traffic to their blog.

It’ll be interesting to see how they get on with this new feature.

Are you a regular LinkedIn user?

Source: SimplyZesty