Here’s what Microsoft wants to do with LinkedIn

Microsoft has now sealed the deal when it comes to buying LinkedIn, and having done so has revealed its plans to closely integrate the social network with both Office and Windows.

According to a blog post made by CEO Satya Nadella, the LinkedIn network and your user identity will be available across Microsoft Office and Outlook, tying the social media site tightly into the productivity suite.

Nadella also mentioned that LinkedIn members who were writing up a CV in Word would be able to update their social media profile from within the word processing app, and indeed apply for jobs on LinkedIn directly.

LinkedIn Learning – the recently introduced online education portal which offers thousands of courses – will also be accessible across Office 365, and indeed the rest of the Windows ecosystem.

Taking action

Microsoft’s chief executive also said that LinkedIn notifications would be flagged up in the Action Center under Windows (although, of course, you’ll be able to squash them if you prefer).

Nadella further noted that Enterprise LinkedIn Lookup (which lets members of larger firms easily look up co-workers) will be powered by Active Directory and Office 365. And that Microsoft would be developing a ‘business news desk’ across its ecosystem and MSN.com – and it’ll definitely be interesting to see how that pans out.

Microsoft’s CEO stated: “Today I am even more enthusiastic about the common mission and sense of purpose we share, the similarities in our cultures, and the added value we can create for LinkedIn members, to help professionals transform how they work, realise new career opportunities and connect in new ways.”

Doubtless there will be many more tricks coming to Office apps along the lines of the CV in Word abilities mentioned, and hopefully we’ll be hearing more about what’s in the pipeline soon enough.

Microsoft Teams is just around the corner, too, as the firm tries to make itself even more indispensable in the business world.

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).