LinkedIn is now open for business

With the likes of MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo making notable strides in the booming personal social networking arena, business-based network service LinkedIn is making moves to shift its own evolution forward by signing up with online BusinessWeek magazine to increase its worth as a daily tool for professionals. Business-based social network LinkedIn joins BusinessWeek magazine in link deal while opening its platform to software developers. Credit: OfficeSnapShots.

Business-based social network LinkedIn joins BusinessWeek magazine in link deal while opening its platform to software developers. Credit: OfficeSnapShots.Although social network sites such as Facebook successfully appeal to a broad demographic, which does include professionals, LinkedIn’s focus on the business community has seen it grow dramatically in recent times, amassing some 17 million users worldwide and gathering an estimated 5 million unique US visitors during the month of October.The deal with BusinessWeek will see business keywords/companies linked via cursor rollover and connected back to the LinkedIn network, prompting small pop-up boxes that display how many of the user’s LinkedIn contacts have connections relevant to the keyword, reports the Reuters news agency."What we are trying to do is make professionals more productive by making them able to find one another, learn more about each other and communicate efficiently with each other," outlined Dan Nye, CEO of LinkedIn. "It’s not a place where you waste two hours of your time trying to find a date."Beyond the BusinessWeek deal, LinkedIn is also attempting to tempt software developers to create useful applications through its Intelligent Applications platform. By opening its service to third-party developers, LinkedIn will likely expand its appeal by incorporating various software-based tools designed to widen the service’s usefulness for those looking to network with or locate business contacts.However, before developers are able to offer up their software creations for incorporation into LinkedIn, they will first need to secure approval from the service itself. LinkedIn is also taking part in Google’s OpenSocial developer network, which is striving to help the developer community craft software applications that will function on every platform without being restricted to specific services.