LinkedIn has hired a reporter from Fortune as its new economy editor, as it ramps up its plans for its publishing platform.
Caroline Fairchild has joined the business social network to write about and oversee coverage of the venture capital industries and the world of startups.
Fairchild wrote of her move in a LinkedIn post:
Not only will I be immersed in an industry that is known for its cast of gregarious risk takers, but I am taking what many colleagues have warned is a risk myself. Despite the financial turmoil in traditional media, it still has gravitas and well-worn rules and roles. When I hand someone my business card today, they know what I do. LinkedIn’s been around for 11 years and today publishes more than 50,000 posts a week (that’s roughly 10 NYTs per day) — but the publishing platform is still an infant, debuting widely less than a year ago. The rules and roles are being defined and redefined daily; experimenting is a constant.
As well as reporting and writing features, Fairchild founded The Broadsheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the world’s most powerful women, in November 2013. She added:
I know I won’t abandon the work I’ve done covering professional women as the founding writer of The Broadsheet, the daily newsletter of Fortune Most Powerful Women. As a reporter interested in how gender plays in business decisions, I can’t think of a better place for me to be than Silicon Valley, which seems to have become the epicenter of the discussion. My hope is that my writing and your stories will help change that dynamic.
Fairchild joined Fortune from the Huffington Post, where she was associate business editor for just over a year. Prior to that, she was an economics reporter at Bloomberg News.
LinkedIn hired Dan Roth from Fortune in July 2011 to be its first executive editor. Roth leads a team of editors picking the best stories from publishers such as Bloomberg and Business Insider alongside users’ content.
Last month, LinkedIn announced that it was offering its publishing platform to all 17 million UK members, following its extension to US users last year.
Previously, access to the blogging platform had been limited to select “influencers” such as Richard Branson, David Cameron and Barack Obama.
LinkedIn acquired the Pulse news app in April 2013, rebranding it as LinkedIn Pulse.
The business social network hopes that by offering its users news content, it can drive increased traffic and encourage members to make more frequent visits to the site.
