LinkedIn has announced an extension of its Creator Accelerator Program, an initiative that is going to bring the company's best creators in a new initiative designed to help them grow on LinkedIn by sharpening their skills in LinkedIn and maximizing their in-app presence.
The 6-week program offers participants "access to tools and products that will enable them to start conversations, build engaged communities, and connect to meaningful opportunities on LinkedIn".

Participants will also receive $12,000 each to participate while LinkedIn is also adding a slate of new mentors and advisors into its platform training program, including Sherrell Dorsey, founder of 'The Plug', podcasters Colin Rosenblum and Samir Chaudry, among others.
 
LinkedIn launched the first round of its Creator Accelerator Program last September, when participants attended a 10-week course accompanied by a $15k cash stipend.

Both are scaled down for this new expansion, whose focus now shifts more specifically to 'Technology and Innovation', which LinkedIn says the top industry for creators on the platform is.

Like any platform, LinkedIn wants their most engaging creators to be posting more often - and with the platform continuing to see 'record levels' of engagement, LinkedIn wants to feed into that activity wherever possible by adding more thought leadership content into people's feeds.

In one way, it doesn't matter as much whether LinkedIn creates more incentives for its creators - after all, where else are you going to publish your business thought content? But again, these creators can, of course make money through guest-blogging and posting on other sites, so it does make some sense for the platform to provide more direct incentive, even if it's not in the same sort of fight for creative talent as popular video apps.

To further flesh out your LinkedIn presence, join the program here – but to qualify you have to have a history of "driving professional conversations about the world of work," be based in the US, and be over 18 years old.