LinkedIn Appoints MENA Region Editors

With quality content continuing its undisputed reign in the age of information abundance, LinkedIn is meeting with the necessity to move beyond merely hosting content to forging a source of strong, original journalism.

The world’s largest professional network has now appointed the first MENA-focused editors to its global editorial team. Salma Altantawy and Lynn Chouman have joined the ranks of content creators at LinkedIn to bring its millions of members in the Gulf region more relevant and engaging content.

Founded in 2002, the network has evolved over the years from the place where professionals connect and find their next job to also being a valuable content platform that is now seeing record levels of engagement. With more than a million posts, videos and articles being shared on its platform every day, the company with a mission to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful is sharpening its focus on relevance and originality. It has made a foray into original journalism through hiring over 60 editors across five continents, comprising alumni of illustrious media outlets such as Reuters, The Associated Press (AP) and The Wall Street Journal, as well as renowned thought leaders.

Altantawy and Chouman will face the formidable task of maintaining a high impact conversation on the platform. Through multiple products, including top stories, videos and podcasts, the editors will provide LinkedIn members in the Gulf countries with curated news and views that matter, while helping them build future-proof careers, embrace a changing workforce and navigate a dynamic professional landscape.

“With the enormous daily flow of content, our focus will be on helping professionals identify the most relevant insights and news for them by creating original content, curating content from across the platform and encouraging others to start professional conversations,” according to editorial duo Lynn Choumann and Salma Altantawy who fulfill this role.

The network’s roster of original content includes the Daily Rundown digest of business news sent directly to users and lists of top companies and start-ups. But perhaps most noteworthy are the news stories that the editorial team mines from LinkedIn’s Economic Graph – its dataset of 660 million members, 35,000 skills, 30 million companies, 20 million open jobs and 90,000 schools. The numbers are mindboggling, and the content they can generate is limitless.

Sandrine Chauvin, EMEA & LATAM Managing Editor at LinkedIn, said: “Quality content is the foundation of engagement. At a time when capturing the attention of readers and consumers is becoming increasingly difficult, it is crucial for companies and marketers to tell authentic stories and publish content that is designed to educate, challenge, and change perspectives. The new appointments enable us to highlight trends that are specific to the local geographies. We are delighted that our members in the Middle East will now benefit from this.”