Online professional social network LinkedIn has a new high-profile member: Microsoft founder Bill Gates. And Gates isn’t just setting up a profile: he’s helping the site draw attention to new features and a front page redesign. This comes after his company Microsoft spent $240 million for a stake in rival social networking site Facebook late last year. Gates is also posing a question to LinkedIn users—”How can we do more to encourage young people to pursue careers in science and technology?”—to solicit discussion.
LinkedIn is also introducing a new “Status” feature that enables its 19 million registered users to broadcast brief snippets about their current activities, aping a similar feature on Facebook and micro-blogging services like Twitter. The site is also introducing a new navigation model and a customizable widgets panel.
Gates had previously set up a profile on Facebook, but several reports say he’s abandoned the service recently, after getting tired of sifting through thousands of friend requests. LinkedIn features privacy controls that enable users to block connection requests; Gates’ LinkedIn profile currently boasts three connections.
LinkedIn has often been mentioned as a possible takeover target for a company like Microsoft, and some analysts have speculated the Redmond software giant might do better snapping up a variety of smaller operations (like LinkedIn) rather than pushing over $40 billion out the door in an unsolicited effort to acquire Yahoo. LinkedIn’s services are much more staid and conservative than youth-oriented social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, and tries to encourage professional rather than social connections.
