Yesterday, LinkedIn unveiled its restyled mobile app. The social network hopes the new, more accessible design will encourage a more lively user base.
LinkedIn has streamlined its app into five categories: Your Feed, Me, My Network, Messaging, and Search. The new approach to newsfeed is reminiscent of Facebook’s mobile app, except now users can like, comment, and share posts made by their connections. LinkedIn keeps newsfeed relevant by filtering based on what pages the user views the most; the more the user goes online, the more sophisticated the newsfeed becomes.
Also like Facebook, users can now more easily update their profiles. By going to the “Me” page, users can now easily see who is looking at their profile, who is sharing or commenting on their posts, and with whom they are connected.
The mobile LinkedIn does not completely mimic Facebook though–“My Network,” a function separate from newsfeed, alerts users of what is going on specifically in their network. My Network is the place where users can accept invitations or remove connections. The user can also sync it with his calendar, allowing LinkedIn to send him relevant notifications that correlate his events and connections.
In an appeal to younger users, LinkedIn has added emoji capability to its messaging function. The company hopes this move will help erase the unwieldy reputation it has among social networks. In the same vein, the company has made its Search function 300 percent faster, although, it has not added capabilities to show results in categories distinguishing people, businesses, and groups.
LinkedIn realizes that the future of social media lies in the mobile market. To thrive, companies must adapt to this new medium.
See Digital Trends and LinkedIn’s blog for more.