LinkedIn acquires alerts service Newsle

LinkedIn has agreed to acquire Newsle, an alerts service that will undoubtedly bolster the social network's features for tracking users outside its website.

In joint statements Monday, the two companies indicated the service will help users know more about what various people on the site are doing. The technology will likely bolster LinkedIn's existing feature for alerting a user's connections when they're mentioned in news articles. 

"For example, knowing more about the people in your network -- like when they're mentioned in the news -- can surface relevant insights that help you hit your next meeting with them out of the park," said Ryan Roslansky, a LinkedIn spokesman. 

A LinkedIn spokesman declined to disclose the terms of the deal.

The acquisition is the latest among social networking companies, which have been spending big recently, particularly on advertising technology. Twitter, for example, last month bought TapCommerce, an advertising company that specializes in convincing consumers to reopen and use commerce apps (like eBay) already downloaded to their phones. 

In LinkedIn's case, its acquisitions have appeared to hue away from advertising efforts, and more toward bolstering various functions on its site. For example, in February, LinkedIn agreed to pay $120 million for Bright, a data-driven job search startup. The goal was to bolster LinkedIn's job-search features. A few months later, LinkedIn released a new mobile app for job seekers, claiming more than 40 percent of users now look for jobs using their mobile devices.

Newsle will likely help bolster LinkedIn's efforts to get users to interact with its site even more. Last week, it released a new version of its contacts app, which includes notifications about other user's activities.