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LinkedIn Finally Built a Messaging Feature

About time!

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is finally rolling out a messaging feature, but you probably won’t see it right away.

The professional network built a direct-messaging option, the same kind of quick, casual messaging tool that other networks like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat already have. LinkedIn is starting with a “10 percent ramp to English global members,” so there’s a good chance you won’t notice the update right away.

LinkedIn is certainly late to launch a messaging product. (At least it acknowledged as much in a blog post Tuesday.) Yes, you could already send private messages on LinkedIn using the InMail feature, but those messages felt much more like email than texting. The new feature is meant to feel much more casual.

It also looks like LinkedIn may add some artificial intelligence to its messaging product down the road, something Facebook just did to Messenger with its personal assistant “M.”

“We’re excited about concepts like intelligent messaging assistants that can help suggest people you should message or provide you with relevant information about that person before you start a conversation,” wrote Mark Hull, LinkedIn’s director of product management, in a blog post. “Or the possibilities with voice and video to make conversations more compelling.”

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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