LinkedIn Kills Controversial ‘Intro’ Feature After Just Three Months

By

LinkedIn Intro embedded LinkedIn profiles into your iPhone email app
LinkedIn Intro embedded LinkedIn profiles into your iOS Mail app

Just a few months after its launch, LinkedIn has made the call to kill controversial feature LinkedIn Intro — which embedded LinkedIn profiles inside your iOS Mail app.

Despite being a cleverly designed solution, LinkedIn Intro was cricitized almost immediately for being invasive and a potential security risk. Security firm Bishop Fox described the service as “a dream for attackers.

While LinkedIn isn’t explicitly acknowledging this criticism as the reason for its abandonment of LinkedIn Intro, the professionals’ social network has claimed that it is making the decision so as to place focus on other core projects. In a blog post entitled “Doing Fewer Things Better,” LinkedIn announced that LinkedIn Intro will shut down March 7:

“While Intro is going away, we will continue to work on bringing the power of LinkedIn to wherever our members work. Email, where the average professional spends more than a quarter of their time, is one of those places, so we’ll continue to look for ways to bring this kind of functionality to our members through existing partnerships. Users of Intro will be able to uninstall it between now and March 7 and switch back to their previous mail accounts. Members can continue to use Rapportive, which brings the power of LinkedIn to Gmail.”

LinkedIn will additionally shut down Slidecast — a service which enabled SlideShare members to upload presentations with audio — on April 30.

Source: LinkedIn

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.