LinkedIn Is Planning A Major Update Of Its Pulse News Reader App

Major changes are in store for LinkedIn’s Pulse news reading app. According to Bloomberg, LinkedIn is planning to release a significant update later this year that will offer content based on user’s professional information:

The new version of Pulse, which LinkedIn acquired last year for $90 million, is set to leverage information on a person’s career history, seniority and connections to show more relevant articles, said Ryan Roslansky, the company’s director of content product management. The Mountain View, California-based company is planning to release the update in the third quarter, said people with knowledge of the situation, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

LinkedIn wants to improve its mobile applications as a little more than 40 percent of its traffic comes from smartphones and tablets like the iPhone and iPad. Company officials are hoping that the professional information will help the app compete against Facebook’s Paper and Flipboard:

“If you want to read content specific to your professional world, that’s where the Pulse app is going to win,” said Ankit Gupta, co-founder of Pulse and a senior product manager at LinkedIn, who declined to comment on the specifics of the release. “Mobile is a hugely important part of the company right now.”

The current version of the app is universal and designed for the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad/iPad mini. It can be downloaded now on the App Store for free. Users will need to be running iOS 7 or later. Late last year, the rebranded LinkedIn Pulse hit the App Store. After signing in with their LinkedIn information, users are greeted with the channels, influencers, and content they follow on the social network. LinkedIn preferences and professional interests are also used by Pulse to recommend specific content. For other app news and reviews today, see: Connect With The Stories That Matter With Medium For iPhone, Next Brings Minimalistic Expense Tracking To Apple's iPad, and NimbleBit Updates Disco Zoo With 'Cool' New Animals, New Toddler Mode And More.