LinkedIn just announced they have acquired Newsle, a startup which uses algorithms to drown out social network noise and deliver only the most relevant updates to its users.
On their blog, LinkedIn stated the following about their latest acquisition:
Over the past year or so, we’ve introduced several new ways for you to further access this exchange of information to be better informed, educated and inspired by the business knowledge that exists on LinkedIn. For example, we’ve given you the ability to publish long form posts and add photos, videos and presentations to your profile; integrated LinkedIn and Pulse; and launched the Influencer Program. But there’s more work to be done. That’s why I’m so excited to welcome Jonah Varon, Axel Hansen and the rest of Newsle to the LinkedIn family.
LinkedIn and Newsle share a common goal: We both want to provide professional insights that make you better at what you do. For example, knowing more about the people in your network – like when they’re mentioned in the news – can surface relevant insights that help you hit your next meeting with them out of the park.
Newsle’s entire team of engineers (as well as aforementioned founders Jonah Varon and Axel Hansen) will be heading to LinkedIn, to integrate its service into LinkedIn’s social network.
Newsle relies on natural language processing algorithms to scan content from across the web which mention specific people, and return the most relevant results to its users. Newsle have invested a considerable amount of time and effort to their disambiguation algorithms to make sure the content is as precise as possible.
LinkedIn have stated that Newsle’s service will still stand alone and be available to its 2 million current users for the time being. Although as TechCrunch has highlighted, a similar statement was made about LinkedIn’s acquisition of CardMunch, which closed its doors as a standalone service earlier this year.
Read more here.
(Image credit: Nan Palermo)