LinkedIn launches new app in China without social feed after shutting main service
- InCareer retains the job searching functions in LinkedIn’s flagship platform but has no social media feed
- Chinese users express mixed feelings towards LinkedIn’s new app, tailored for China’s strict censorship and data protection requirements
LinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned social media network for job-hunters and recruiters, has launched a new app specifically for mainland China after the company announced in October it would pull its global platform from the market.
Tailored for China, which has strict requirements on content censorship and data protection, “InCareer” has no social media feed.
The app is “designed to help Chinese mainland professionals find jobs and companies discover great talent in China,” said Mohak Shroff, senior vice-president of engineering at LinkedIn.
This is the latest example showing how far US technology firms are willing to go to keep a foothold in the world’s most populous country.
Similar to LinkedIn’s flagship app, InCareer allows users, who can log in with their LinkedIn account, to browse vacancies, read notifications about new opportunities, and change their personal settings.
Unlike the global LinkedIn app, however, InCareer has no public social feed for users to share articles. Users can still message people in their network, but they can only add new contacts by entering the person’s mobile number or scanning their QR code, rather than searching by names or job titles.