NYTimes.com is working with LinkedIn on targeting news stories and ads at their respective readers and members, the two said in a joint announcement. For the past few months, LinkedIn has been forging partnerships designed to expand its offerings beyond just connecting people through their jobs. In March, the company signed a similar deal with BusinessWeek.com that connects the mag site’s news to the jobs and associations of LinkedIn members and their network. This latest partnership involves a similar kind of “recommended reading” feature for the news site’s Business and Tech sections on NYTimes.com. For example, if you work in the media business and you’re on LinkedIn, five related headlines will appear in a new module within Times site’s Business and Tech sections. Users can then push those articles to members of their network through the share tool.

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Also, even though NYTimes.com readers are already can use a list of apps, including ones from Facebook, Digg, Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Buzz and Mixx, a little LinkedIn button has already popped up earlier. And while vowing to protect users’ privacy, the two will use the deal to encourage advertisers to execute campaigns with both sites, though a NYT rep said that the deal doesn’t have a joint ad sales component.