LinkedIn is building a syndicated content network, starting with its top 500 influencers, says Re/code. Currently, those same influencers are posting their content on the professional social media site for free. LinkedIn wants to leverage that content by syndicating it and republishing it on other sites. To do that now, influencers have to manually approve the sharing of their content. LinkedIn wants to skip that step with a blanket approval by each author.
Re/code points out that there is no money being exchanged between LinkedIn and the influencers – for now. So what’s the point? LinkedIn is getting additional exposure by being affiliated with the influencers, and influencers like Richard Branson and Dr. Travis Bradberry get to spread their message far and wide.In a copy of the letter reproduced on Re/code, the influencers have the opportunity to opt-in to the new system. LinkedIn promises that posts will be in “top-tier” English publications like The Economist and New York Times.Authors will be given proper attribution and links to the original LinkedIn posts. The posts may also appear in “top-tier” non-English news sites and be translated into other languages and included on LinkedIn Pulse in other countries.Other conditions include “first rights” of sorts, where the author’s post will appear on LinkedIn for 48 hours before it can be syndicated. Also, each post will include LinkedIn Influencer branding and attribution to ensure that LinkedIn and the influencer get credit.In the letter, signed by Executive Editor Dan Roth, LinkedIn says, “This is not part of any monetization effort for LinkedIn. It is solely an awareness opportunity. As always, you own your posts, and participation here does not preclude you from self-publishing your posts on any other platform you wish.”Insider Take:This is an interesting move on the part of LinkedIn, and we aren’t sure how we feel about it yet. On one hand, it is an opportunity for LinkedIn and its top 500 influencers to gain global exposure for their brands. On the other, it seems that LinkedIn is trying to do and be too many things at once. Can it juggle so many different opportunities and do any of them well?As a subscription company, LinkedIn continues to tinker and tweak its subscription plans. As a social media site, it connects professionals around the world. It also serves up a news feed similar to Twitter and Facebook. How many news feeds can we actually contribute to and follow every day?LinkedIn has ads, groups, publishing, and now a syndicated network, and it is also acquiring companies like Lynda.com, an online tutorial and training company. It seems like there are so many moving parts at LinkedIn that we aren’t sure which parts we should be watching.To their credit, LinkedIn’s revenue is improving. For the second quarter of 2015, revenue was $712 million, a 33% increase year over year. Revenue increased in the Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions and Premium Subscriptions categories. Membership is also growing. In the second quarter, membership grew by 21% to 380 million members. Unique visiting members grew 16% to an average of 97 million members per month.However, the company’s GAAP net loss was $68 million, its largest loss across all quarters for the last 12 months. With a big quarterly loss like this on the books, we wonder if syndicated content will eventually become a cash cow for LinkedIn – out of necessity. With the company’s losses growing, LinkedIn will have to stop the bleeding somehow.
