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A comment on Pulse Joins the LinkedIn Family. Parent comment

Re:Pulse Joins the LinkedIn Family by goronbjorn on Thursday April 11, 2013 @07:12PM (#5535474)
From: http://www.linkedin.com/about-us

> Our mission is simple: connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful. When you join LinkedIn, you get access to people, jobs, news, updates, and insights that help you be great at what you do.

LinkedIn targets all professionals, not just those that are tech savvy. Most people visit only a handful of websites in a given day; if Linkedin can become a 'good enough' destination for professional news, it has a good chance of becoming part of that handful of websites, if it isn't already. There's some good insight on that here: https://www.quora.com/LinkedIn-Acquisition-of-Pulse-March-20...

Linkedin as a company isn't just about one thing, like adding professional connections for example, much like Apple as a company isn't just about one thing, like making iPhones. As a company, their goal is to build product(s) that align with their mission, and if the stock market is to be trusted as a proxy of how well they're doing that, it appears they're doing pretty well: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=LNKD+Basic+Chart&t=1y

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Re:Pulse Joins the LinkedIn Family by bambax on Thursday April 11, 2013 @07:39PM (#5535600)
There's a contradiction in terms. The more access I have to "news", the less productive I am. My productivity is positively correlated to the amount of silence I get.
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Re:Pulse Joins the LinkedIn Family by rpedroso on Friday April 12, 2013 @01:59AM (#5536897)
This view is overly-simplistic. There is a difference between being up-to-date on your industry and being distracted.

If you're an SEO, for example, you need to keep up with Google algorithm updates. If you're a doctor, you need to keep up with new drugs and treatments. If you work in marketing, it's important to keep up with your competitors.

I'm not so interested in LinkedIn's news products, but my former employer used them very effectively. Spending all day refreshing Hacker News certainly won't help you be productive, but checking the front page once or twice a day can help you stay abreast of the tech startup industry.

The key is discipline.

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Re:Pulse Joins the LinkedIn Family by bambax on Friday April 12, 2013 @03:36AM (#5537134)
Yes, yes, you're right about discipline and the "overly-simplistic" point. I was being sarcastic.

But I really wish my doctors don't count on comments on LinkedIn to keep up with "new drugs and treatments"! I hope they're subscribed to professional journals or go to conferences, etc.

The larger point being, every professional community has its specialized hubs. If LinkedIn strategy is to become the universal professional hub for all... well then that's a "frighteningly ambitious" idea.

I can't see them pulling it off but who knows -- and thanks for pointing it out.

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