LinkedIn—the professional networking behemoth within the world of social media—caters to its own network of 380 million members worldwide. It serves as a go-to spot for professionals and businesses alike while also having some of the highest numbers of active users in comparison to other social channels. As an active LinkedIn user yourself, you’ve most likely caught wind of (or even seen for yourself) a new look and feel for the platform.
These visual changes, which look oddly similar to Facebook, will be rolling out to all members within the coming weeks. And with this new look, LinkedIn hopes to launch itself into the 21st century social networking experience. With a much friendlier UI to navigate, the redesign is said to be one of the biggest since the company’s inception in 2002. In addition, the change is said not to affect simply the design, but the overall performance and functionality as well.
So what will these changes mean for users? Only time will tell but here’s a glimpse into what you’ll need to know before they hit.
LinkedIn’s New Interface
While speaking at a tech conference back in 2015, Reid Hoffman—LinkedIn’s co-founder—admitted to the fact that his website needs work. According to him, it was confusing and their Senior Director of Experience Design was even quoted as saying it was “hard for people to understand what to do.” It’s no surprise then that their new look resembles that of a very familiar player in the social media sphere, known for its widespread adoption: Facebook.
With a look similar to that of Facebook’s homepage, the revamp to LinkedIn is drawing a dotted line between the two. And why not? Social networks borrowing (or stealing) functionality from other platforms to fit their own seems to be becoming more and more commonplace. Facebook itself does it. Case in point: Stories that now exist on Instagram and soon Facebook as well, pull directly from Snapchat. Mirroring a network that evades people still from a use case perspective off a network that many spend hours a day on is a no-brainer.
Easier Navigation on LinkedIn
Upon visiting the new LinkedIn homepage, you’ll probably first notice how much cleaner, neater, faster, and easier to navigate it is. In terms of navigation specifically, there will be seven sections to work your way through: Home, Messaging, Jobs, Notifications, Me (profile page), My Network, and Search. LinkedIn likes to describe the overall experience as much more intuitive overall with a seamless experience across desktop and mobile devices.
LinkedIn’s Expanded Features
LinkedIn is the best social networking site when it comes to connecting the dots between professionals, providing relevant career-oriented news and insights, and fostering conversations. In addition, their functionality for job opportunities has been well adopted by prospective employees and HR professionals alike. With LinkedIn’s latest update, search has been given priority with hopes of making it easier for users to discover news, conversations, and job postings.
Messaging has also been given major love with a real-time messaging interface. With the redesign, you’ll be able to message a connection whenever on LinkedIn, with open tabs seen at the bottom of the page (similar to that of Facebook Chat). This will make connecting with fellow professionals much easier and make the networking potential much more in-the-moment.
Lastly, the feed itself will now display the most relevant content to you from people and publishers followed based on algorithmic sorting, and even human editors. It will also offer trending stories based on topics marked as important to the user. And lastly, users will now be able to hide and unfollow posts in hopes of making the experience more engaging and personalized.
LinkedIn Insights and Profile
Perhaps one of the most anticipated changes comes in the form of more developed and relevant analytical insights. Users will be able to see who’s reading and engaging with material posted and shared on profiles. Available information will include company, job title, and even location. This will give individuals and businesses a better idea of the types of people they’re most heavily impacting through content produced.
The update will also improve profile suggestion, which gives you the opportunity to stand out among other LinkedIn users. Especially for those looking to land a new job, they can use this in conjunction with application functionality to help HR individuals take notice of those showing the most interest. Skill suggestions will also be available to help job seekers gain a better understanding of what know-how they might be missing and/or need to work on in order to land certain opportunities.
Overall, LinkedIn has taken its own self-criticisms to heart and given new life to a platform that has yet to measure up to its true potential. Ease, stronger navigation, and faster performance are features all users can look forward to sooner rather than later, and will certainly to boost active use numbers as they unfold. For more information on how platforms like LinkedIn and others can boost your business on a variety of levels, contact us today.
