With Microsoft’s purchase of LinkedIn now complete, hints of what the future holds for the business networking site are beginning to emerge.
Yesterday, announcing the closing of the $26.2 billion acquisition, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner blogged publicly about a message he sent to employees. In it, he reassured them and customers and members that “our day-to-day operations will essentially remain unchanged.”
He went on to offer a peek at some of the ways Microsoft and LinkedIn will integrate their products:
- LinkedIn identity and network in Microsoft Outlook and the Office suite
- LinkedIn notifications within the Windows action center
- Enabling members drafting résumés in Word to update their profiles, and discover and apply to jobs on LinkedIn
- Extending the reach of Sponsored Content across Microsoft properties
- Enterprise LinkedIn Lookup powered by Active Directory and Office 365
- LinkedIn Learning available across the Office 365 and Windows ecosystem
- Developing a business news desk across our content ecosystem and MSN.com
- Redefining social selling through the combination of Sales Navigator and Dynamics 365.
Weiner didn’t provide any details, explaining more will be shared in the coming months.
However, there’s been much speculation in the last few weeks about the possibilities. LinkedIn fueled the buzz this week by removing its search filters within its premium product.
My colleague, Shannon Pritchett, editor of SourceCon, detailed some of the speculation and discussion in an article posted there, including news of a likely new design for LinkedIn that could be in place as soon as next week.