The Wall Street Journal has launched what it’s called a LinkedIn Killer. How’s that for self-serving promotion? But responses to the professional network from News Corp’s flagship publication have been lukewarm. It’s difficult enough for printed media companies to transfer their customer base and revenue generation from tangible to virtual, in the form of websites. Is a LinkedIn competitor the best way for WSJ to go?

Well, there are a number of other services and resources that the WSJ website and its affiliates could link back to a LinkedIn competitor, providing a measure of value to end users. Whether it’s a news feed full of related professional articles or a business directory that provides an advertising channel for brands and additional resources for professionals, there are a few options that the WSJ could surely take advantage of. But would it be worth it?

A professional social network from WSJ is too little too late. And depending on the ultimate goals for News Corp with the WSJ and an associated social network, it may be a moot update for the WSJ. But should the WSJ gain traction for a professional network, then there may be some opportunity for socially driven media sharing that could spread the WSJ’s readership. Having an internal system for sharing activity streams could be a good way to gain consumer data on readership and sharing behavior, ultimately providing recommendations and insight on how to improve the WSJ digital content and strengthen the transition from print to the web.

There are a number of other ways in which the WSJ could do this, however. Yet considering the previous rumors of the WSJ acquiring LinkedIn last year makes us wonder if this was part of the WSJ’s ultimate plan or if the company is just regretful for not having purchased LinkedIn.

Whatever the case is for the WSJ’s new network, the fact remains that LinkedIn is a great tool and does what it was designed to do. Frequent updates have made LinkedIn even more fluid, as the professional social network has made certain communications more open and other sharing features have made it easier to leverage the relationships you’ve created within the LinkedIn community. It will be difficult for anyone to compete with LinkedIn at this point.