LinkedIn is not just for connecting with other professionals anymore. Today, LinkedIn debuted a new way of connecting with your college classmates and other alumni from your school. The new feature is designed to create an alumni network, as “your classmates have become experienced professionals, industry experts, potential clients, and trusted colleagues — people who can help you expand your horizons,” explains LinkedIn.
The new service, available at LinkedIn.com/classmates, provides an overview of what other alumni are doing and where they are working and living. Clicking on the labeled trends for employers, job type, or location narrows down the demographics for each category and then shows you all the other LinkedIn users from your school who work at a specific employer, in that field, or live in a specific area. The tool is designed to help you determine what your possibilities for living and working are, as well as help you make new connections or reestablish an old one.
LinkedIn’s Classmates also shows profile summaries of specific people where you can instantly invite them to connect or send them messages. And LinkedIn’s Classmates isn’t just for college — users who add their high school to their LinkedIn profile can select their high school from the dropdown menu to see the same details for those classmates. You can also add and select from other colleges and grad schools, granted you have listed them in your LinkedIn profile, too.
With LinkedIn’s Classmates, will Facebook users who primarily use the social network to stay in touch with former classmates no longer have that need? And what will happen to Classmates.com?
If you’re a LinkedIn user, let us know what you think of this new feature. Will it give you a reason to abandon other social networks? Or is it not quite the same thing? Let us know in the comments.