LinkedIn Adds Facebook-Style Mentions Of People And Companies In Status Updates And Home-Page Comments

LinkedIn has just announced on its blog that a new Facebook-style mention feature, letting users tag companies or users, is officially official.

This morning, TNW noticed a feature being tested on LinkedIn that would let users mention other LinkedIn members or companies in status updates, instantly sending a notification to that user or company’s profile. Not every user had access to the mention feature this morning, but it appears LinkedIn is rolling it out to users as we speak.

Mentions aren’t revolutionary by any means. Facebook has had an auto-complete feature built in for a while now that lets you select a friend from a drop-down menu as soon as you begin typing a name. Before that, Twitter was the real origin of the mention, with the help of a now-ubiquitous @ symbol.

On LinkedIn, you simply type in the name of the LinkedIn connection or company within the status update field. You’ll see a drop-down menu with matches, and once you post, that user or company will see your status update appear in their notifications list.

You’ll also be able to mention other LinkedIn Members, outside of first-degree connections, in the comments section of posts on the LinkedIn Home Page. That is, as long as those members have engaged in the same comments section. LinkedIn is home to some of the most important business news in the industry, and this should help the social network grow engagement amongst its users on the platform itself.

According to the blog post, LinkedIn mentions “will make it easier for you to start conversations with your network while also enabling you to respond in real-time when someone begins a conversation with you.”

If you are an English-speaking member of LinkedIn, you should see the feature start working sometime in the near future. Meanwhile, LinkedIn is working on integrating mentions into other parts of the site, beyond status updates and home page comments.

[gallery ids="791866,791867,791868"]