LinkedIn opens its door to students

LinkedIn Corp said it will open its social networking site to those above 13 years of age in a moved aimed at attracting a younger membership base.

The company, which makes much of its money by selling access to its members' resumes to corporate recruiters, said the changes will come into effect on September 12.

LinkedIn also introduced a new feature called University Pages enabling schools, students, and alumni to connect on the website.

Over 200 universities have adopted their pages, including New York University, and University of Michigan, LinkedIn said in a blog post on Monday.

LinkedIn said the minimum age for its members will vary by country. Currently, the minimum age for online social networking is 14 in the United States, 16 in Netherlands and 18 in China, the company said.

Minors will have different default settings to limit public information, and unwanted communication, the company said.