It’s happening. Microsoft is integrating your entire LinkedIn network into Office apps, starting with Office Online apps and Outlook.

When you connect your LinkedIn account to Office 365, you will now be able to take advantage of Office’s real-time co-authoring features. Now, you will be able to co-author documents with people in your LinkedIn network right in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint without needing to leave the respective apps. This feature seems like an interesting addition because it is quite unlikely you will ever need to co-author document with someone from your LinkedIn network. You’ll even be able to send emails from Outlook directly to people in your LinkedIn network because of course you can.

Talking about Outlook, LinkedIn will now surface highlights about the people in your meeting invites from its network. This will help you gain some insights about the attendees without having to manually look them up on LinkedIn.

The integration is quite minor for sure, though it could be the beginning of something much, much more. This seems like the first step towards that.

Tagged with LinkedIn