Wall Street Journal working on 'LinkedIn killer'

News Corporation’s flagship title is looking to snap up some of LinkedIn's 15 million or so monthly visitors - recruiting Slingshot Labs to develop a website where professionals can create business contacts, search for jobs or find potential clients.

WSJ Connect - known as ‘LinkedIn Killer’ internally, according to TechCrunch - is still in the planning stages, but there is said to be strong interest to move the project forward.

The WSJ dabbled in social networking last year when it launched WSJ Community - a portal for subscribers and non-subscribers to share and discuss news stories, which has about 40,000 members - a disappointing tally, compared to LinkedIn's member base of 43 million.

The Wall Street Journal could use WSJ Connect to lure new readers to pay for an online subscription, although initial proposals see WSJ Connect as a free service.

Slingshot Labs, part of News Corp's research and development arm - most recently rolled out DailyFill.com, an entertainment news site catering to a celebrity-obsessed audience, which has seen success in a saturated market.

WSJ Connect will have its work cut out in a relatively small market, which is dominated by LinkedIn in the US and Xing across Europe.