LinkedIn to Integrate Groups into the Mobile App by @MattGSouthern
LinkedIn plans to bring Groups back to mobile by integrating the feature into its flagship app.
Previously, LinkedIn offered a standalone Groups app for iOS. However, it was removed this past February.
When LinkedIn removed the standalone Groups app the company announced it was looking into ways to merge it with the main app.
“As one of our flagship products, LinkedIn is heavily invested in maintaining Groups and exploring ways to improve our member communities by fully merging Groups into the LinkedIn website and the main LinkedIn mobile iOS and Android apps.”
LinkedIn users can expect to see Groups brought to the main app by the end of this month.
According to TechCrunch, an announcement recently went out to select Groups power users detailing plans to merge Groups with the flagship app.
In addition, new functionality will be brought to Groups including threaded replies and the ability to post rich media such as videos.
The company reportedly found it challenging to continue updating the standalone Groups app. As a result, the main app ended up growing at a faster pace.
Integrating Groups with the main app should allow it to keep up with updates while taking advantage of the overall LinkedIn ecosystem.
For example, when Groups is part of the main app users will see group conversations in their main LinkedIn feed. Group activity will also appear in the notifications tab.
Facebook made a similar move with its own Groups feature, shutting down the standalone app and merging it with the main app.
