App trawls LinkedIn profiles for budding office romances

Forget waiting until December for the office Christmas party; a new app is set to kindle office relationships like never before by letting users trawl their LinkedIn network for dates.

Available for free on the iTunes store, LinkedUp promises a "smart new way to date" by connecting the romantically-inclined with other people in their LinkedIn network. Users can 'like' or 'pass' on profiles, and just like the office Christmas party, the app suggests you can "get the conversation going by already knowing what industry your match works in".

Although it's not affiliated with the official LinkedIn networking site, LinkedUp's developers used the site's API to create the app. And despite combining work life and love life - two things that many would probably like to keep separated - the creator defended the app.

"What's so great about the app that we developed is that it pulls from the really quality premium user database that [LinkedIn has] set up, which gives people a true sense of identity of the other person on the other end of the mobile app that we have created," president and CEO of LinkedUp, Max Fischer, told The Guardian.

"Usually when you are at a bar, those are some of the most important questions that people ask for. Like, 'Oh yeah, my brother went to that school'. Or, 'I love their football team'. Or, 'My mom studied the same thing you studied in college. She's a scientist also.' That's how people start conversations and those are ice breakers in terms of gaining comfort between two people."

We're not sure how many people list their mother's university major on their LinkedIn profile, but the app does allow you to toggle the details you share with the community and only those LinkedIn users who've opted into the app are visible.

Even so, is there a check box to ensure you opt out of flirting with your boss?