Starting in 2009, LinkedIn users had the option of connecting their Twitter account to their LinkedIn profile. This provided two feature benefits. First, any time you posted a status update or started a conversation on LinkedIn, you could choose to also have that post shared on Twitter as a new Tweet. Second, every time you posted a new Tweet via Twitter, that comment was posted as a new status update on LinkedIn. Many individuals and businesses took advantage of this option to automate their activity on one platform or another.
However, starting June 29th, LinkedIn users who have synced their Twitter accounts will no longer receive the second benefit. Tweets generated through your Twitter account will no longer automatically post to LinkedIn.
LinkedIn users can still create status updates and initiate conversations on LinkedIn and choose to share those posts on Twitter. Simply compose your update, check the box with the Twitter icon, and click “Share.” This will automatically push your update to both your LinkedIn connections and your Twitter followers just as you’ve been able to do previously.
LinkedIn stated in a Blog post on June 29th: “As Twitter shared earlier today in a blog post from Michael Sippey, they are increasingly focused on “providing the core Twitter consumption experience through a consistent set of products and tools.” Consistent with Twitter’s evolving platform efforts, Tweets will no longer be displayed on LinkedIn starting later today.”
There will be no further changes to the interaction between LinkedIn and Twitter, according to that announcement. If you were relying on Twitter to keep your LinkedIn profile statuses up to date, you may want to consider posting the update via LinkedIn first and sharing via Twitter, or utilize a tool like HootSuite to post on multiple platforms simultaneously.
It should be understood that this change was implemented by Twitter, in an effort to encourage (force) more users to utilze the Twitter platform for content delivery and increase ad revenue. Fortunately, this is a move that could actually benefit LinkedIn greatly, as many users were consistently growing unhappy with the duplicate content being posted to LinkedIn. LinkedIn may now return to being the social media platform for professionals that it once was.