LinkedIn and New York Times connect

Professional networking giant LinkedIn announced its "strategic relationship" with NYTimes.com yesterday that allows LinkedIn users to receive targeted articles from the news source and easily share stories with others in their network.

Depending on a member's business profession in their LinkedIn profile, they can choose to receive specially directed headlines from the New York Times business and Technology sections (but not the entire NYTimes.com site).

An interesting social and new media blog Social-Cache.com commented on the union with high praise for "upping the ante" with MySpace and Facebook.

This seems like a definite step in the right direction toward a more efficient, more encompassing professional network. As a LinkedIn user and times reader, I'm excited to see just how directed these personalized headlines will be and how useful I'll find them to be.