How the LinkedIn redesign may not change much



Contributing Writer
Illustration: Boy Credit: Jayanta Behera


LinkedIn is preparing to give its site an overhaul, and from every indication (including this screenshot from Donna Serdula) it looks pretty great.  Immediately noticeable is that the LinkedIn Today posts are integrated into updates, which shows a cohesiveness between publisher content and user-content that wasn’t there before.

According to Ingrid Lundgen at TechCrunch, new changes include that the menu bar remains static as users scroll down, message buttons appear immediately next to people who have viewed your profile, and pictures from LinkedIn Today are larger.  She also predicts changes in the algorithm to provide content that is more relevant to users.

LinkedIn clearly wants you to stick around longer.  But will you?

I mentioned in a post last week that the sites with the lowest time on site (LinkedIn, Google Plus, and MySpace) all have a disproportionate percentage of male users.  I also pointed out that shares on LinkedIn were inefficient (for my site) compared to shares on other social platforms.  LinkedIn is making all of the right moves as far as content, increasing the size of the pictures, filtering the most relevant content,  making it easier to interact – embracing powerful best practices from Facebook.  But does it matter?  Somewhat.

Mark Schaefer left a great comment on a post I wrote about Facebook where I dismissed the value of time-on-site.  Mark pointed out that of course Facebook wants to increase your time on-site (which Alexa estimates today at about 23 minutes) – the (low) effectiveness of their advertising doesn’t mean that there isn’t a higher benefit from longer exposure.  The same applies for LinkedIn (time on site about 8 minutes) – they will see some small benefit from a redesign like this, but the greater issue for LinkedIn is user perception of the site and the culture that it has created.

LinkedIn is not a network predicated on content consumption and sharing.  From Wikipedia: ”LinkedIn is a social networking website for people in professional occupations…. it is mainly used for professional networking.”  That is a great summation of how people perceive LinkedIn, and that’s the challenge that they face as they try to keep people on site longer.  Can LinkedIn retain the users that they covet for recruiting and job search (which account for the majority of their revenue), and extend their brand more effectively into content consumption and sharing?   They’ve been pretty successful with their business model so far, but it’s a steep challenge to persuade their professional culture to go business casual.

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Jim Dougherty

Jim Dougherty

Writer and chief of miscellany at leaderswest.com

I aspire to give people something to think about rather than tell them what to do. My favorite Google Alert is “social media research,” I am increasingly compelled by Gen Z, and I appreciate good writers agnostic of where they write. At one time I was Kred’s 12th most influential social media blogger and Klout’s most influential person on the topic of David Hasselhoff. Transplant from Seattle living in Cincinnati. Haven’t entirely adopted the local sports teams yet.

Jim Dougherty

@jimdougherty

Writer about social media and tech at Leaders West, I also tweet as @leaderswest.

Infographic: How to optimize photos for Facebook’s News Feed http://t.co/6OkhbTRkb0 – 16 hours ago

Jim Dougherty

Jim Dougherty

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  • http://authorslounge.authorsxpress.com Jaymie Shook

    I’ll say first that I got the job I have now through a LinkedIn connection. (Social media win!) However:

    One thing I would like to see on LinkedIn is the ability to edit the “Jobs You Might Be Interested In” feature. The job titles sound great to me, but I live in Indiana and have no plans to move anywhere in California, so I’d like to be able to change that element of the search.

  • http://leaderswest.com Jim Dougherty

    Hi Jaymie! Thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment, neighbor! Your success with LinkedIn is really common and I imagine you have a lot of affection for the site. This is why I think your insight has resonance – by giving the site more of a content focus I wonder if they’re doing it at the expense of their base? A fix like that for one of their core features seems like it should be of paramount importance, and it makes a lot of sense. I wonder if Twitter and now Facebook might have LinkedIn a bit spooked? Continued success to you!

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