Although it doesn’t rely as heavily on advertising revenue as the world’s other top social networks, LinkedIn Corp. is still putting a lot of energy into encouraging users to consume more content.

The latest fruit of the Microsoft Corp. subsidiary’s efforts is a news feed launched today that will feature articles aggregated by an algorithmic recommendation system under the supervision of a roughly 20-person editorial team. Content displayed in the Trending Storylines feed, as LinkedIn refers to the new section, will be customized according to the interests of each user just on Facebook. Tech workers, for instance, might receive updates related to the software industry, while a professional employed in the healthcare industry can likewise expect to see relevant news.

Certain articles will be grouped to help users keep up with new developments. According to a blog post by LinkedIn Vice President of Product Tomer Cohen, such collections will be created manually by its editors, which suggests they will be reserved only for important stories in need of continuous updates. A sample screenshot in Cohen’s post shows a series of stories about tech companies that have recently indicated plans to file for an initial public offering.

Furthermore, each storyline will have a dedicated hashtag designed to serve the same basic purpose as the Twitter version: creating a network-wide discussion that every user can join. In the future, LinkedIn plans to expand upon the feature by introducing the ability to follow specific people and topics, which should have the added benefit of enabling its algorithms to provide more relevant reading recommendations.

The Trending Storylines section is accessible through a tab on the top right corner of the desktop version of LinkedIn and a “Trending” panel in the mobile app. It’s the latest in a series of major improvements that the business network giant has made  since becoming part of Microsoft last year. Previously, LinkedIn rolled out an improved version of its Sales Navigation prospecting tool and redesigned the desktop site to let users consume content more easily.  

Image: LinkedIn