LinkedIn, the social networking site for professionals, has unveiled two new important features for individuals and brands: LinkedIn Events and LinkedIn Polls.

Events

The LinkedIn Events tool is designed to make creating and searching for events easier.

Users looking for events can now search under specific categories and keywords including: industry, location and date. Events occurring within a users’ network now appear in the Network Update Stream, while the new Events Home Page will display events recommendations based on location, industry and network. Events will also feature a list of ‘Attendees you may want to meet’ based on users' mutual contacts, industry and interests.

Businesses creating events can now include their logo, and share the event through their LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter networks.

Polls

LinkedIn Polls is the first application within Groups, LinkedIn’s community site where users with similar interests participate in online discussions and forums. The new Polls application lets users participate in, comment on and follow polls within these groups.

It also allows group administrators to create polls and share them on Twitter. Brands can benefit from Polls by promoting blog posts, getting feedback on new products and conducting targeted market research.

LinkedIn continues to innovate

Events and Polls are the latest in a series of new features LinkedIn has recently rolled out, as the site develops new ways for its 100 million members to connect with relevant users, brands and networks.