LinkedIn & Twitter - Like Peanut Butter & Chocolate!

by Ron Callari

In the days of yore (3 years ago), when social networks were first making their mark on the digital landscape, there was a divide between those networks you chose for business and those selected for fun. Today, those worlds collide, as LinkedIn and Twitter formally get "linked" to each other. And the combination is sweeter than PB&J.

For all those that are members of both networks, you know that while tweet are ubiquitous, status updates on LinkedIn are less frequently used. Knowing the dynamic, the founders of both LinkedIn and Twitter decided to marry the two, so what's posted on one can be shared with the other.

LinkedIn will now allow you to update your status on your LinkedIn profile and then immediately tweet it out to the Twitterverse with a cross posting feature.

All you need to do is click the new Twitter box under your LinkedIn network updates and voila'- your update syncs up and tweets out!

This integration is also reciprocal. You can also share Tweets to your LinkedIn profile from Twitter or any other client by adding the hashtag "#in" of "#li" to your tweet.

According to a Techcrunch report, "the odd man out in this announcement appears to be Facebook, who has yet to add Twitter syndication to its functionality for all users." A spokesperson for Facebook says it's something the site "may consider in the future." This does seem a little odd to me. Facebook has been in pursuit of Twitter's functionality from day one, and for them to be excluded from this new LinkedIn partnership is suspect. I believe there is more to this story then meets the eye, and I will report on what I find as more news comes in. (note: Readers, please leave a comment if you have some inside information on this topic).

So, there you have it. Once again, worlds collide to form a better union and a greater functionality for users. Try it out. Peanut Butter and chocolate can become addictive very quickly.
(Note: The Twitter feature will be gradually rolled out over the next 24 hours to all LinkedIn users.)

Ron Callari
Society and Trends Writer
InventorSpot.com

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Comments

Nov 10, 2009
by Anonymous

twitter and linkedin work well for business

why do you disagree?

Twitter offers a new channel, in that it gets used for very short on the move comments. Twitter search also enables you to locate (and then leverage) the talk about your business, product, whatever. The two go together very well

Many also have a clear break between linkedin and facebook. I certainly don't want to mix by business network with my home and family network.

Finally, Facebook competes with myspace and others in the space. Twitter appears to be alone.

Nov 11, 2009
by Anonymous

The partnership is rather unfortunate for users

I dropped into my "company buzz" on my LinkedIn page as I do every few days only to find the results of this new partnership.
Sadly, the functionality that I so enjoyed before is now gone. Previously, I could click on the user's Twitter name, in LinkedIn, and a new window would pop up displaying that user's Twitter page. This offered all the standard information I've come to expect from Twitter; the bio, the URL link, the follow button, their latest tweets.

Unfortunately, in all of LinkedIn's infinite wisdom, they've decided to keep me hostage and simply feed me the user's tweets with no way view the remaining information. To view what I could easily see before I now have to, highlight and copy the username from LinkedIn, open a new window, navigate to Twitter, click "find people", paste the username in, click the search result and only then am I where I was before.

LinkedIn, thanks for making such a great service so much more complicated!!

Pierre

Nov 11, 2009
by Anonymous

I think that LinkedIN was

I think that LinkedIN was becoming a more static social networking platform with biography and resume, but this relationship with Twitter gets more people interacting on the LinkedIN platform. That cannot be a bad thing for their advertising business.

Nov 11, 2009
by Anonymous

Facebook is personal.

As for your real question - Twitter and linked in are both business and work oriented, whereas facebook is more personal. Twitter / linkedin in this sense make a better fit than facebook / linkedin.
Nigel Legg (@nigellegg)

Nov 11, 2009
by Anonymous

twitterin

Research showed that users use Linkedin to network for jobs. This merge makes it easier to build a robust, rounded brand image for employers to review a potential employee's interests and knowledgebase.
Chris Maniates (@cs_project _mgr)

Nov 11, 2009
by Anonymous

Perception

I think the merger also has to do with perception. I've read about 7 or 8 articles in just the past two days alone that highlight Twitter as the new "Business Social Media Platform" or the newest "Business Marketing Model" while Facebook is still being touted as a place more for friends and personal updates.

Also, Facebook already has microblogging with its status updates feature, which people utilize fairly well. I think linking with Twitter instead of Facebook is a two-fold win: it boosts the urgency of messages (constant microblogs)/ contact and interaction and it also allows LinkedIn to keep its "primarily business" feel.

Misti Cain
Connect: www.linkedin.com/in/misticain
Engage: twitter.com/RedCelloMktg
Enlighten: blog.redcellomarketing.com

Nov 12, 2009
by Anonymous

Facebook odd man out post-Twitter-LI deal? Not really.

My take:
Facebook pulls in both the personal and business user so Twitter's allowing bi-directional access with FB makes Twitter less sticky. Alternatively, Twitter gains from the LinkedIn deal.

Carla Schlemminger
@carlainsf

Nov 12, 2009
by Anonymous

Twitter/Linkedin connection -- and another option...

I agree that Twitter/Linkedin is a good connection. And should you want to include Facebook in your post, you can use ping.fm, posting all three sites simultaneously. There are times, however, we can agree that more personal reflections appropriate for Facebook, and not the more professional Linkedin, should be put up separately.

Marilyn Friedes
http://marilynfriedes.net
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marilynfriedes
http://twitter.com/marilynfriedes