LinkedIn, online's premiere professional networking site, is now offering "Following" features for high-status members. Some examples of these members are Richard Branson, and Ariana Huffington. Eventually, all members could be followed, like in the style of Twitter. LinkedIn has traditionally been a more enclosed website, rivaling other solely social networking sites.
What does this mean? Well, one that LinkedIn is going to become more competitive in a new way to Facebook, Twitter and the like. This will enable one-to-many communication where previously the site depended on one-to-one communications. The move is thought to entice members to stay on LinkedIn longer, closer to Facebook times, and to use LinkedIn as a casual site instead of a sole networking site. If they can increase the sticky time on LinkedIn, they can increase ad revenue.
The second part of this is the possibility of losing it's "professional" status in the online networking world. One of the appeals of linked in is it's closed off communication. One is able to effectively offer a solely professional profile, without worrying about what others post, tag etc. one in. If LinkedIn is moving towards other social networking sites, a new niche market may open for closed networking.
Cheers.
