Social network LinkedIn has relaunched its Groups offering with a streamlined service, after quietly pulling the standalone Groups app earlier this year.
The redesigned Groups will be rolled into LinkedIn’s main app by the end of the month, with several features dropped, including the ability for Group administrators to pre-moderate comments and sending Group posts as emails to the whole group.
Mitali Pattnaik, director of product LinkedIn Groups, said in her blog announcement the company has rebuilt Groups “from the ground up” and is adding additional features, including threaded replies and the ability to post video and other media. The hope is to bring conversations to the forefront on LinkedIn, she added.
Notifications from Groups has also been added as a new feature, and soon users will be able to join conversations straight from their LinkedIn news feed.
There are more than two million Group users, according to LinkedIn, and more than half of all LinkedIn members are in at least one group.
Last year, LinkedIn made a number of changes to its platform, including launching lead generation forms for sponsored posts, an ‘Audience Network’ feature for marketers and advertisers and trialling sponsored content for its native video content.