LinkedIn Adds Facebook-Style Mentions to Boost Conversations

LinkedIn just made it much easier to have a conversation with other users on the social network.

LinkedIn announced Thursday that it has started rolling out a new mentions feature that is similar to what's available on Facebook and Twitter. The feature, which was spotted earlier in the day byTheNextWeb, is intended to make it easier for LinkedIn's community to engage with users and companies.

"We’re excited to introduce a new way for you to engage with your network through the ability to mention your connections and companies in conversations on LinkedIn," the company said in a blog post.

The mentions feature, which is being rolled out to English-speaking users starting today, is more limited than similar options on other social networks. You can only mention other LinkedIn users that you are connected to, or other members who are part of a discussion thread on the LinkedIn homepage.

This isn't the first time LinkedIn has taken a page from Facebook and Twitter to boost engagement on the site. LinkedIn added a follow button for brands, similar to Twitter, andoverhauled its homepage and profile pages to be more like Facebook. Flipboard recently integrated mentions into its apps as well