LinkedIn and Microsoft’s Outlook have teamed up to provide a powerful tool to help users utilize the power of their connections through their e-mail. This tool is still in beta but can currently be downloaded quite easily. This new add-on capitalizes on Outlook Social Connector, an Office 2010 feature that integrates social networking feeds into Outlook. Right now Social Connector is limited to LinkedIn, but Microsoft says connectors for MySpace, Facebook, and Windows Live are “coming soon”.
Here’s how it works:
When you open a message in Outlook from someone in your LinkedIn network, you will see LinkedIn information pulled from your connection’s profile below the message pane. You can see things like their profile photo, latest status messages, recently added connections and see any recent questions they’ve asked or answered. LinkedIn Connector will also add a LinkedIn contacts folder where you can you see your network connections’ profile photos, e-mail addresses and profile details such as their current job title.
This is a fantastic tool for any sales force or business development professional looking to build relationships.
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