LinkedIn in talks with major publishers to launch Facebook-like Instant Articles feature
LinkedIn is attempting to strengthen its news offering and is reportedly in talks with a number of major media outlets to introduce new publishing features that would rival Facebook’s Instant Articles.
The business-oriented social networking platform has, until now, largely relied on business news and blog posts from high influencers and has been competing with Facebook for the share of the b2b audience.
However, LinkedIn is now reportedly preparing to introduce a new publishing tool that would dramatically boost page loading times for articles just as Facebook’s Instant Articles does.
Speaking to Buzz Feed News LinkedIn said that publishers “remain a very important part of our content ecosystem and we are in regular conversations with them about new ways to work together”.
“Our goal is to ensure we get the right content in front of the right member at the right time to deliver the best member experience possible.”
LinkedIn has increasingly worked to position itself as a leading platform for business news and in doing so purchased Pulse, a news reader that is now embedded into its main platform.
The platform has enjoyed strong user growth in Asia, particularly in China where 20 million people currently use the LinkedIn app; so if publishers were to partner for the Instant Articles-style feature the site would significantly strengthen its reputation as a go-to source for business news.