What Do You Think of the “New” LinkedIn?
March 3rd, 2008 (7:33am) Judi Sohn 19 Comments
It used to be simple.
You did your “play” networking on Facebook, and you built your “work” networking lists on LinkedIn. Facebook was everything LinkedIn was not…chatty and time-killing. On LinkedIn, you didn’t learn what your connections (not friends, mind you) did at a party last night or compare your taste in movies. If you wanted to find a new job or research someone’s employment history, you went to LinkedIn. If you wanted to tell the world you were goofing off at work, you went to Facebook.
Sure, there were ways of using Facebook professionally. But using LinkedIn to build friendships out of work relationships or to have a sense of your connections’ lives beyond their resume? Not so much. Until now.
There were rumors for a while that LinkedIn was moving in a more Facebook-like direction, and now we’re starting to see the results of those efforts.
Have you visited LinkedIn lately? Now instead of a dry listing of who has added connections, the network update on the home page includes questions your connections have asked (and answered), status updates and more. There is less emphasis on connecting with strangers through introductions, and more emphasis on building richer relationships with the connections you already do have.
I still question the wisdom of LinkedIn focusing on an iPhone interface before providing a rich Blackberry experience. m.linkedin.com is not much to text home about yet. And I highly doubt I will ever use the status updates, nor have I seen many of my contacts use it either. However, I have to admit that I spent time on the LinkedIn site over the weekend and found it a worthwhile experience. Merely the fact that I spent time on the site is a change. Before, LinkedIn was merely a repository of information that you consulted when you needed.
This weekend, I learned on my LinkedIn homepage that a consulting friend got that fulltime job I knew he was hoping for and I shot him a note of congratulations through the email link in his profile. I found the “People You Might Know” section to be an episode of “This is your Professional Life, Judi!” as it truly was a lengthy list of people I knew (not everyone I knew well enough to invite, however). I learned a lot skimming the questions and answers in the Charity and Nonprofit category (my day job industry). I even joined a group, although I’m not sure what that gives me beyond a list of other people who joined the same group.
As long as LinkedIn never offers anything with the word “poke” or “wall,” maybe they’re on to something after all.
What do you think? Is LinkedIn more relevant to you now?
19 Comments Post your own comment
dawn says: March 3rd, 2008 7:37am
I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. A lot of my connections on Linked In are already wary of social networking — I’m not sure if this will help (by making it friendlier) or hurt (by making it seem more invasive) but at least it’ll be interesting to see.
Ryan Christensen says: March 3rd, 2008 7:55am
I’m in the fence on the redesign as well. I certainly don’t dislike the changes, but I think I preferred the general style of the previous version.
I’m not sure I really expect myself to use the new “set status” all that frequently. While I use LinkedIn to professionally network and build new relationships, I don’t see it in the same realm of social network as other sites like FaceBook.
David S. says: March 3rd, 2008 8:48am
LinkedIn is clearly having an identity crisis. Do they want to compete with Facebook? Do they want to compete with Monster.com? How about creating value for their members who aren’t looking for a job or hiring?
Their latest enhancements do nothing to help me promote my business. For example, the mobile application doesn’t allow me to really do anything except invite non-members to LinkedIn (good for LinkedIn). I can’t even contact people in my existing network (ironically, I can’t even call them!)
As for the “Facebook cloned” Status Update feature - what’s the big deal? How many engineers and time did it take to copy that code?
It’s a shame LinkedIn gets all the coverage… For most people reading this article, networks like Xing (xing.com) and Fast Pitch (www.fastpitchnetworking.com) offer so much more value.
It’s only a matter of time until you can poke Bill Gates on LinkedIn.
TechNomad says: March 3rd, 2008 9:00am
I don’t use Facebook and probably never will. The reason that I like LinkedIn is because it is more focused on professional relationships and less on social ones.
I like the iPhone verion of LinkedIn but agree that it’s not all that useful yet. I think I liked the old site design better. Maybe I am simply more familar with the old version, I’m not sure.
I agree with David S. The new LinkedIn does feel slightly schizophrenic..
Konstantin says: March 3rd, 2008 9:45am
I think the result of the same features can be quite different based on the context of who is using them, who is consuming them and for what purpose. I see LinkedIn becoming more communicative in a professional sense, but not more social (as in what you do outside of work). See some of the answers to my question on LinkedIn on the use of “status updates” on LinkedIn vs. Facebook:
http://www.linkedin.com/answers/using-linkedIn/ULI/180612-1244
John Furrier says: March 3rd, 2008 10:37am
Recently my LinkedIn experience has been blowing away the utility value of Facebook. It feels like a chore for me to work Facebook in order to connect to my real world relationships and activities. At first Facebook worked great then it became littered with notice - very dirty communications. Bottom line: it effected my productivity both on a personal and business level.
http://furrier.org/2008/03/03/is-linkedin-a-better-utility-than-facebook-for-professionals-advantage-linkedin/
Moose says: March 3rd, 2008 11:05am
Major step back in terms of usability. I’m a bit disappointed.
peter caputa says: March 3rd, 2008 11:29am
I like the new changes a lot. But, I do think that LinkedIn could open up a bit more so that people could connect more easily.
Rich Pearson says: March 3rd, 2008 11:37am
I like the new features, but one addition has ruined the whole experience for me: The placement of a company news module at the top of my page.
LinkedIn has somehow deduced that I want to read about a company for which I haven’t worked in 10 years. The worst part is there is no way to remove it.
A big step back
Brian Dusablon says: March 3rd, 2008 1:26pm
I’m not a big fan. Usability is worse than the last version. Why does everyone have to have social “tools”?
I really don’t need to know what a former colleague is doing at any given moment. I also am pissed about the company news section at the top.
I haven’t been at Motorola for 7 years now - why the heck do I want a huge section about Motorola news?
Ronnie says: March 3rd, 2008 3:48pm
I think it’s trying to do too much. Some things which facebook has like the “status” is literally being ripped off. I don’t really think that is inline with what LinkedIn offers to its users.
It is nice how they group the updates and all though.
Roundup: Wikileaks judge slaps own wrist, AllPeers unpeers, Saudis developing solar, and more » VentureBeat says: March 3rd, 2008 3:58pm
[...] — Unfair perhaps, but the business networking site will inevitably be compared to Facebook. Web Worker Daily explains why new LinkedIn features like status updates make it more like its chattier [...]
Rswier says: March 3rd, 2008 6:04pm
Ultimately, LinkedIn is nothing more than a “Monster.com” with link capability (which is abused more than used) - trying to be a Facebook. With all the money and engineers they have, you would think they could be more creative….
(btw. the new interface is a total rip-off)
Mrinal says: March 3rd, 2008 6:46pm
Its one thing to exchange a business card, and totally another commitment to build on that relationship over time.
There is a lot of ’social’ elements that go towards nurturing and building a long-term relationship. The new design etc seem to be moving towards that.
They seem to be moving towards enabling me to share relevant news, share messages/notes, find mentors, to help learn and unlearn
rhhfla says: March 4th, 2008 6:03am
LinkedIn only survives because they have the current market leading position and it would be tough to displace them. Recent update did little to improve my view of the site. They have no cogent view of how to develop the product because I do not think they have a profound understanding of their users and what we want.
dale boyce says: March 4th, 2008 6:49am
It is hard to connect to people on linkedin. I find that most professional might setup and account, but never use it.
Jeanne says: March 4th, 2008 11:20am
I don’t use facebook, but LinkedIn has no support for those of us who married and changed our last name. It thinks my maiden name is my middle name. For example if my name were Mary Smith Brown, it sends emails to and from “Mary Smith” as if I went by that (this would work if your name was Mary Ann).
The worst part of this is that people can’t search for me and find me as “Mary Smith” or “Mary Brown”. They must search for “Mary Smith Brown.” My college alumni site handles this well. They just add a field for maiden name.
Still, when my company was about to have major layoffs, we all joined LinkedIn. It’s a great way to keep in touch with folks without having to remember their email.
Troy Bettinger, SPHR says: March 4th, 2008 12:03pm
As a recruiter, I’ve tried to use Facebook, but it has too much noise and junk to be useful. It seems like every time I run a search on Facebook, someone’s page serves me a loud, obscenity-filled rap song. Just what I need to hear at work.
LinkedIn’s new functionality has some good points, but they’ve buried invitations and other useful features.
I agree with Brian Dusablon and Rich Pearson: I hate the news function. I’m so over tracking a company that laid me off in the 1990’s.
Troy
http://notjobs.blogspot.com/
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