We’ve all heard of LinkedIn. Chances are, you may have checked LinkedIn earlier this week, added a few contacts, then went back to work.

But, strap on your seatbelt and get ready for the ride. LinkedIn is going social, and I mean REALLY social. Over the past three weeks, they’ve made several important announcements that will change the way you think of LinkedIn six months from now.

First, it’s important to know that LinkedIn is probably one of the most powerful and influential social networking companies out there. Why? Well, on its network you have the most affluent, educated people online, period.  52% of LinkedIn’s 52 million members earn more than $100K a year. And, take a quick look at the graph below from Compete. People are spending more time on LinkedIn, than Forbes.com and WSJ.com.

What is LinkedIn doing?
They are opening up their API. This means that third-party developers do the following with Linkedin data:
1. Let users access their information, profiles, connection on sites other than Linkedin
2. Let users make actionable decisions (post updates, accept contacts) on other sites
3. Search. Developers can put a Linkedin search anywhere on any website.

What does this mean for my business?
Bigger companies with deeper pockets will quickly be able to recognize and capitalize on this new development. Simply put,this will extend Linkedin’s community to your website. Imagine if you could meet, interact, and connect with employees, users, business partners and friends on say Ford.com using Linkedin?

What does this mean for me?
The first thing you’ll notice is integration with consumer applications and software. In my opinion, the two most pervasive tools that will pick up on LinkedIn’s new open API will be Microsoft Outlook and Tweetdeck (a twitter application). When sending emails and managing contacts in Outlook, all of your contact information will be pre-populated with Linkedin data. So, when sending an email to a friend, you’ll most likely  see his/her latest status update, and how he/she is connected to other contacts in your Outlook contacts file. With Tweetdeck, this means another column to update and view statuses. (Tweetdeck has already integrated with Facebook and Myspace.)

LinkedIn IS social…
For your boss/spouse/co-worker who is still a bit reticent about social media, these new development pus that conversation to rest. Companies will now use LinkedIn as an easier stepping-stone to “social” as they realize the value of integrated social systems that benefit themselves and their company. (And, we haven’t even talked about LinkedIn and “Augmented Reality” yet, that’s a conversation for another day…)

What do you think? Will this help you/your company make an easier transition into new media?