Keeping Up with LinkedIn: The Top 4 Site Improvements
Donna Serdula
Your Brand Matters ? Founder & CEO of Vision Board Media ?? Author of LinkedIn Profile Optimization FOR DUMMIES ?? Speaker ?? Podcast Host & Guest ?? Empowering People to Take Control of their Careers & Narrative
It's so nice to see positive improvements within the LinkedIn universe! For awhile, each time I opened up LinkedIn.com, I feared what awaited me.
No more!
Of late, each time I log into LinkedIn, I find myself smiling! So without further adieu... here are the top 4 HUGE improvements LinkedIn recently put into effect:
- Profile Photo Editing - You can now zoom, straighten, crop, and apply filters to your profile picture. This is available on both the Desktop experience and LinkedIn's mobile app.
2. Consistent Background Image - The LinkedIn profile's old background image was such a pain in the neck. Depending on the device you were using to view the profile, the background image stretched and moved. It was practically impossible to upload an image with a logo that was visible across all devices.
LinkedIn's NEW Background graphic is a THOUSAND times better. The image no longer stretches across the browser window but is contained within the walls of the profile. The image displays consistently across all devices allowing you much more flexibility in adding text or logos.
3. More LinkedIn Feed Control - Prior to LinkedIn's recent redesign, when you visited LinkedIn's homepage and scrolled through your network's updates, you could toggle between Top and Recent Updates.
The redesign took away this control and only allowed you to see the Top updates-- updates LinkedIn selected for you to see based upon relevance according to your activity on the site. Big Brother, anyone?
Well, Recent Updates is BACK! Now you can decide: do you want to see the most popular updates that LinkedIn believes are relevant to you OR do you simply want to see what your network is posting with the most recent at the top?
It's nice to have control, isn't it?
4. Prior Experiences are EXPANDED-- The LinkedIn Redesign took all the previous experiences listed on your LinkedIn profile and collapsed them. In order to read the description for the experience, you'd have to click on the See More link to expand it for viewing.
Although it might have seemed like a good idea, truncating the experiences caused major issues. Recruiters who were used to scrolling through the profile to quickly glean a candidate's job history were suddenly having to click-click-click to see anything. UGH!!!!!
Also, by having only the most current position expanded, a person with a not so powerful current experience suddenly looked far less valuable because their stronger previous experiences were hidden.
The other aspect of having previous experiences on the profile expanded is the ability to immediately see the multimedia that was uploaded/linked to past experiences.
Change is the Only Constant
I am loving these improvements and hope there are more to come.
What recent LinkedIn changes have you noticed that I didn't spotlight in this article? Please jump into the comments and let me know what improvements you love, why, and what improvements you'd like to see!
Donna Serdula is the foremost expert in LinkedIn profile optimization and author of LinkedIn Profile Optimization For Dummies. She's proven that a strong LinkedIn Profile is the key to performing well on LinkedIn. Visit LinkedIn-Makeover.com to get your LinkedIn profile professionally written.
#TheLinkedInGuru (Guru = Teacher) LinkedIn Trainer, LinkedIn Training, Professional Networker, Volunteering - getting paid in 3 "Cs", Coffee, Conversation, and occasionally Chocolate! Please Follow Me! Namaste ?? ??
7 年Thanks for a valuable update as always, Donna. My favorite of the recent "improvements" is that LinkedIn is bringing back the ability to search a connection's connections! Hasn't rolled out to me yet, but I am looking forward to it!
Actively engaged with various organizations & agencies to promote programs for helping ALL citizens to live the American Dream!
7 年Thanks Donna Serdula! I like the pic option!
32-Time Award-Winning Executive Resume Writer for C-Suite execs, VPs, and Directors in Canada and the USA ? LinkedIn Profile Writing ? Branding ? Board Director Resumes ? Resumes that Get Noticed for Top Jobs!
7 年My favorite return is the ability to sort the newsfeed by recent versus top! More opportunity to read a variety of posts and not just pre-selected ones. Donna Serdula, do you know if there is a way to re-order recommendations on a profile page by chance?
B2B editor/author/graphics artist/trainer fixes high tech, medical device, marketing collateral to ensure accuracy, readability, and continuity. ? White papers ? Blog posts ? User manuals ? RFPs ? IFUs ? Webinars
7 年#4: Only to a point. Only five are shown on my profile before having to click to see more. Further, I'm really irked that I can't move the Volunteer section (virtually useless to me) and—more importantly—my Publications section is completely buried. As a freelancer, it's a critical part of my profile. Also, in the prior UI, I could use links with # anchors to drive people to sections of my profile, e.g., www.dhirubhai.net/in/chrismorton#Publications. Not any longer! This stinks. Rich media are an important part of my profile. The new UI has messed that up, too. It's MY profile, and I enjoyed the ability to have it appear MY way. No one at LI asked me what I thought of their redesign.
Founder & Managing Director @ PT. Miracle Anugerah Gemilang ? Fund Management & Consulting ?Business development ? Insurance, Investment ? Partnership with AXA Indonesia
7 年Thank you Donna Serdula for the Update ...very informative