LinkedIn: Check the pulse

A. Reading and sharing articles related to work can help stimulate business ideas and inspire solutions to the biggest challenges. LinkedIn Pulse is an online news service that allows you to follow “influencers,” “channels” or “publishers” based on your interests, and receive interesting content in a one-stop online destination.

By following Pulse contributors, you can tailor the feed to show the news and articles that interest you most. To get started, you will need to browse the LinkedIn Pulse tab titled “discover” and follow the contributors that write about the subjects important to you. Here is a breakdown of what you will find.

“Influencers” are at the top of the list and include the CEOs of major American companies. Their articles range from business “how-tos” to thought leadership ideas. For example, Blake Mycoskie, CEO of Toms Shoes, a company that values charitable giving, posts articles about how your company can benefit from encouraging volunteerism and community involvement.

By following “channels,” you can follow more general categories of information that include the ideas of multiple authors. You might consider following the “leadership & management” category for ideas that will help you grow leadership in your staff. The “healthcare” category tackles topics as broad as major industry trends to how to maintain good health.

Pulse contributors known as “publishers” are major news publishers such as Forbes and The Economist that publish articles directly to LinkedIn when they are posted on their websites. Instead of browsing these individual sites every day, LinkedIn will aggregate the stories for you and bring them to your feed on the Pulse page.

Beth Cox Hollingsworth is content manager for The VGM Group. Connect with her on LinkedIn (Beth Cox Hollingsworth) or email her at beth.cox@vgm.com.