New Feature: LinkedIn Mentions

LinkedIn I am so glad it made it through the MySpace and Facebook to distinguish itself as the go to tool for business networking. The past four years I have been following Linkedin rather closely to see if it would be a tool I would be comfortable using and promoting to my clients. Not a huge fan of the new big blue facebook for business use. Linkedin has done a great job legitimizing itself as the place to be for a professional network. Not being inundated with someones last meal or every little event of there day. I can login and stay focused and sometimes read a great article or two.

I was worried it was going to become a tool for brokers and headhunters only, but they have done a great job to extend your business presence on. It’s great to get a contact and then link with them on the site not having to worry about what you did with their card. Linkedin has fast become my second most important contact database to me. Below is one of many things they have done to solidify it’s presence.

LinkedIn Mentions

A New feature that they have integrated into their services is called mentions. As you type names into a comment they pop up from your contacts and various degrees of connections.

How does it work?

Begin by typing the name of a connection or a company in your status update box or a comment field on the Homepage.
Select someone from the list of your connections that appear in the drop-down, complete your status or comment and post it.
The person or company you mentioned will receive a notification alerting them that they have been mentioned.

In addition to first-degree connections, you can also mention other LinkedIn members engaged in conversations in the comment sections of posts on LinkedIn Homepage. Mentions will make it easier for you to start conversations within network while also enabling to respond in real-time when someone begins a conversation with you.

Mentions, though considered a remedial feature of most popular social services, should be a beneficial asset to LinkedIn as it continues to push forward with a strategy designed to increase engagement.

FROM LINKEDIN:
“Mentions provides a simpler way for our members to more deeply engage in the professional conversations happening on LinkedIn every day,” Angela Yang, associate product manager