It seems as if all of social media is getting a facelift. Whether its a complete overhaul or just some minor touchups, smoothing out those wrinkles is priority numero uno when competing in today's market. And that is just what Linkedin did.
Since it's launch 15 years ago, Linkedin has steadily climbed to the top—from just a simple job building/search platform to a now all-inclusive and highly-relevant social media platform. It's most recent redesign streamlines its processes making it sleeker and more user-friendly, aesthetically similar to its mobile application.
According to Kathleen Chaykowski, a Forbes tech writer who recently interviewed the company, "The redesign gives both the mobile app and the site a consistent design and the same back-end architecture, which should enable the company to change the site much more quickly moving forward," the company stated. "LinkedIn’s main goal for the redesign was to make conversation and content a bigger part of the user experience, in addition to simplifying what many viewed as a clunky product experience."
This will allow for overall uniformity and clarity, hoping to improve users ease of access across the entire platform. This will enable conversations to be intertwined throughout the entire site more efficiently. It's modern look opts for simplicity by providing user friendly options—again, matching the functionality of Linkedin's mobile app.
Functions, including the search bar, notifications, and navigation tools have been overhauled and users will want to browse each section in order to get comfortable with the new format. The search bar for instance, no longer allows for advanced searches using keywords, first and last names, locations, or job titles—unless you opt for the professional level, which gives you all of these capabilities.
Part of its reformatting included updated algorithms, as well as, larger teams of of actual humans in an effort to improve "humanizing" content based on what's relevant and trending in relation to the user's preferences—all in an effort to improve content curation. It will also provide more detailed insights for users who post articles or blogs frequently and are interested in detailed analytics and stats regarding their readers and viewers.
To encourage more engagement and interaction, it also launched a "real-time" interface. It will—allow users to engage with other connections from anywhere on the site. From the home page, it almost appears Facebook-esque with its scroll-down post option "Share an article, photo, or update."
Another improvement includes the "More" tab at the top right of Linkedin's main page. Here you can access the Linkedin's Learning, Post a Job, Groups, ProFinder, Lookup, and Slideshare. This is also where you would create a company page, and if you manage other companies Linkedin profiles; you would also access/manage companies advertising and salary options there.
Other pro's include: The menu bar, the "me" profile box, and the improved recommendations to improve your profile. However, only the first few skills you list will show. In order to view the rest you'll have to click on them. Also, you are no longer able to move sections around to fit your preferences.
Overall, the new face of Linkedin offers a more simplified format and is visually more appealing. Although it may take a little bit of time and some getting used to, it appears a necessary improvement overall.
With more and more businesses vying to remain at the top of the social ladder, it appears as if these social platform facelifts might just be the new norm as businesses and consumers compete for a wrinkle-free interface filled with user-friendly options based on relevance, efficiency, necessity, trendiness, and practicality. Those who don't take the necessary steps to remain relevant may just find themselves at the bottom—sitting next to Six Degrees or MySpace.
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