LinkedIn status updates get a two-way sync with Twitter

The professional networking site LinkedIn just announced on their blog that over the next couple of days users of their service will be able to send their status updates from LinkedIn to Twitter, and vice versa.

This is a big win/win for both companies. For LinkedIn, it will perhaps revive their status update feature which in my experience was rarely used. More importantly, it is likely to drive traffic and new users to the site. For Twitter, it continues to support the business relevance of the service as both a networking and professional branding tool.

LinkedIn Co-founder Reid Hoffman and Twitter Co-founder Biz Stone discuss the integration:

How the LinkedIn – Twitter integration works:

1. To update your Twitter status from LinkedIn, simply check off the Twitter box before you share your LinkedIn status.

2. In order to update your LinkedIn status from Twitter, include the hashtag #in or #li in your tweet. In addition, LinkedIn users will have the option of sending all of their tweets into LinkedIn. If users opt for this option, the use of the #in or #li hashtag is not needed.

Keep in mind that connecting your Twitter account to your LinkedIn account must be done ahead of time using LinkedIn’s to be released Twitter settings panel. Keep an eye out for the feature roll-out in the next couple days.