Dive Brief: 

• LinkedIn has announced that it will buy B2B ad-tech firm Bizo for a reported $175 million. 
• Bizo helps deliver ads to professional audiences across the web. 
• The move follows other major social networks' steps toward expanding beyond their own sites, including Facebook's recent acquisition of LiveRail and Twitter's Tapcommerce deal. 

Dive Insight: 

To stay competitive, and to take control of the B2B space, LinkedIn will need to expand beyond its own social walls to sell ad inventory. Bizo seems to be the perfect partner for this endeavor because of its deep integration with marketing automation platforms and its B2B focus. In this way, LinkedIn can run more parallel to Facebook and Twitter rather than competing directly.