We've seen TV news networks make quite a few forays into social networking. Conspicuously left out have been CNBC and LinkedIn, but today they're announcing a partnership that actually makes some sense.

LinkedIn is the social network for careerists; basically everyone's resume on the Web. Presumably a larger percentage of LinkedIn's 27 million users are interested in business news than, say, Facebook, MySpace or Bebo, and the two share higher-income demographics. Under the terms of the deal, CNBC will provide news to the network, and tap the LinkedIn community to develop content for TV such as polls, surveys, etc.

In addition, CNBC will integrate LinkedIn functionality into its Web site. That's probably a bigger deal for CNBC than LinkedIn, given the site reaches just 3.2 million people a month, according to Quantcast, but the availablility of business information, stock quotes and headlines on LinkedIn can't hurt, either. CNBC will add another source of news for LinkedIn users; the network added headlines from the NY Times in July.

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