New LinkedIn Design – Quick Review

By the end of this month, all UK-based LinkedIn members will receive the new user interface. I was recently fortunate enough to be given a preview of it so I thought it would be useful to offer you an overview of the new (and removed) features.

On the new version of LinkedIn a large number of fantastic features have been removed and very few significant new ones added. Some of the removed features are now only available on the paid versions of LinkedIn (this article is also written on the basis that some of this could change again over the coming weeks).

 First, the GOOD:

• The new design looks a lot cleaner and contemporary and aligns with the mobile design. It is a lot more intuitive to navigate and is easier on the eye than the old version
• The updated messaging system is pretty good as all messages appear as a pop-up in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, so you don’t need to keep navigating to your LinkedIn Inbox to see your messages
• When you connect to someone new, you no longer have to select a reason how you know them (colleague/classmate/friend, etc) and any tailored message you write is a lot more prominent for the recipient, both on desktop and mobile
• Most links open up a new browser tab, making for less frustrating navigation
• Your profile looks completely different and is almost identical to the mobile version. In summary:
• All profile photos are now circular and the background image is narrower
• Your summary appears directly underneath your photo and cannot be moved, so it’s important to get the reader’s attention in the first 2 sentences as this is all the reader sees until they click on ‘see more’
• It is a lot easier to view someone’s recent activity as this is more prominent

And now the BAD (and this is quite a long list!):

• In terms of your own profile:

1. You can no longer re-order the different sections – these are now in a fixed order
2. You cannot edit your display name and you can’t re-order current positions
3. You cannot re-order your recommendations – you used to be able to ‘click and drag’ the best ones to the top

• Here is the deal breaker – Advanced Search is now severely limited in its functionality and matches the mobile version. All you can do now is run a basic search e.g. ‘Director’ and then re-filter the results. Boolean searches are much better however i.e. the ability to use ‘not’, ‘and’ and ‘or’ e.g. “director” and “golf”
• You can no longer save searches on the free version
• You cannot see a list of your own followers (i.e. people who you are not connected to but who are following you)
• Only your last post shows on your profile (it used to be your last 3) and this area now contains your recent activity, not all of your posts
• Thankfully, emoji options in messages are no longer available
• There is no button to ‘Ask for an Introduction’ to a 2nd line contact – you can still see who the mutual contact(s) is, but there is no way to facilitate it on LinkedIn
• You can’t sort your newsfeed between Top and Recent Updates – as if it wasn’t annoying enough to have to sort your newsfeed every time you landed on the home page, you now can’t sort it at all! The content is now based on what LinkedIn thinks you want to see

I expect some of these updates will change again over time but hopefully this has given you a feel for the most important changes. LinkedIn is still by far the best place to go to find business contacts and content and they obviously realise this so are encouraging more users to pay for the premium versions. Let’s see how things develop!