LinkedIn has introduced a clever new functionality on their platform today, by announcing a limited first version of Linkedin DirectAds. DirectAds allows you to target advertisements on age, gender, industry, or seniority of ad viewers. Two weeks ago co-editor Robin reported the soft-launch, now it’s for real.
The advertisement will display in a non obtrusive way, and is visible on the profile and the homepage of the targeted receiver. The costs for the advertisements are dependent on your targeting, which you can setup yourself using the LinkedIn DirectAds page. the popular professional network currently requires you to pay with a credit card, but the biggest turndown is that the service only works in the US for now. However, the service looks promising, and could be ideal for users who want to advertize themselves, their business, product or service to specific users.
It seems that LinkedIn found an (not entirely original) income stream that can help professionals to find the right person in the right place. What could be the developments of Linkedin contacts pushing ads to your pages? I wonder how long it will take until people start experimenting to use LinkedIn as a dating site.