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LinkedIn gives its messenger a much-needed overhaul

LinkedIn gives its messenger a much-needed overhaul

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LinkedIn has never been the hippest social network, but at least it's starting to pick up on some vaguely recent trends. The latest thing it's figuring out is messaging, which is getting a major overhaul on the site beginning this week. Rather than having a stale email-style inbox, LinkedIn is now revamping its messaging service to be a lot more like an instant messenger — you could even mistake it for Facebook's. Two or more people can shoot quick messages back and forth in a single thread, and they can even now send GIFs and stickers, in addition to photos and documents.

linkedin messaging

The overall effect is that LinkedIn's messaging service is becoming a lot more casual. That's probably a good thing. Instant message services are going to be a lot more natural for younger audiences than something that looks like email, and chat services are even starting to grow throughout the business world thanks to apps like Slack and HipChat. LinkedIn's update may remove some formality from the business world, but it may also get people talking more, which ought to be a win. The revamped service will be rolling out on the desktop as well as LinkedIn's iOS and Android apps over the "coming weeks."

linkedin messaging