LinkedIn and Twitter announced last night that LinkedIn will now be integrating Twitter updates with LinkedIn user accounts.

@LinkedIn tweeted early this morning “Learn how you can link your LinkedIn and Twitter accts together! http://bit.ly/24HX0F.” @LinkedIn even changed its Twitter avatar to mark the occasion.

Reactions on Twitter were mixed, and Read Write Web was not impressed. Some on Twitter felt the two worlds should not collide. This morning, a Twitter search of LinkedIn also revealed that Twitter users are having trouble finding the feature in LinkedIn. This is because it is not yet available to most users.

According to a post on the LinkedIn blog, when Twitter integration is available, it will be found under the Network Updates setting:

“Want to share some interesting ideas about an industry-specific article you’ve just read with an even broader audience? Or how about letting people view your Twitter account name on your LinkedIn profile? Begin by joining your LinkedIn and Twitter accounts in just a few clicks. All you need to do is check the Twitter box under your Network Updates box on the homepage and follow a few simple steps.”

Clicking through the setup process will allow you to specify the Twitter account that you’d like to sync and/or display on your LinkedIn profile.

Unfortunately, I can’t find the Network Updates box on my LinkedIn home page either. LinkedIn has continued to try to make itself more social, and this is yet another step. It remains to be seen how groundbreaking/important this deal is.

Update on How To Configure LinkedIn Twitter Integration:

1. To enable LinkedIn to display your Twitter feed, click the link “Account & Settings” located at the top-right of the Twitter home page.
2. Under “Settings,” scroll down to Twitter Settings
3. This will take you to the Twitter Settings page where you can add accounts and choose how they are displayed. For example, you can display all Twitter updates on LinkedIn, or just those with the tag #in

I received an error message the first couple of times I tried this, but then logged out of Twitter and back in, and it worked. So far I cannot see my Twitter stream even though LinkedIn indicates it is active, so I don’t think they’ve got all of the bugs worked out yet.

Another new LinkedIn feature that’s really useful is the ability to cross-post your LinkedIn status to Twitter by checking a box. LinkedIn now limits its updates to 140 characters.

Tags: LinkedIn, Twitter