LinkedIn's game changing new design

LinkedIn is changing. Don’t worry, it will still have plenty of Maths problems and self-congratulatory posts begging to be solved and liked but there are two big changes coming.

The first is to do with the look and feel. It’s err changing... to… well, Facebook. But that’s ok, right? Facebook’s user interface is pretty swish. You’ll also get the private messages overlay like you do on the desktop version of Facebook so you can respond to all of those important messages you receive daily on LinkedIn (read: recruiters and people selling stuff).

The second change is a big shift forward in LinkedIn’s advertising strategy which should be just the tonic it needs to join the other social networks at the big boy's revenue table - and that is through a partnership with the very awesome DataSift.

You see, out of LinkedIn’s total revenue (as of last financial filings) of $960m only $175m of it came from advertising. Whilst it is commendable that they are making revenue from other sources Twitter made $545m from advertising from a total revenue of $616m in their third quarter last year. LinkedIn's advertising is 18% of revenue whereas Twitter's is over 88%!

So what will DataSift do?

DataSift were founded in 2010 in the UK. They were one of only two companies that had access to Twitter’s ‘firehose’ of data. This changed when Twitter acquired their rival, GNIP and eventually cut off DataSift’s access. DataSift patted themselves down and drove forward working with Facebook and Tumblr providing deep data insights for brands and agencies.

Fast forward to their recent deal with LinkedIn and it looks like they will be providing much-needed insights into the LinkedIn network for advertisers.

I’ve long felt that LinkedIn was a sleeping giant for advertisers. In fact, I invested in LinkedIn on the basis of LinkedIn having incredibly rich and valuable data to brands. (Thanks to Microsoft I didn’t have to wait for this to come to fruition for my investment to pay off, thanks, Satya!)

What does all this mean for LinkedIn users?

More adverts. It’s no secret that social networks often make user interface changes to incorporate more opportunities to advertise. Add in the new insights that DataSift will make available to brands and agencies and it won’t be long before ‘Sponsored Posts’ appear frequently on your timeline. In fact, in the video above you can already see an ad!

To be honest I’d rather see a relevant advertisement on my feed than a post about something Steve Jobs never said or a picture of the new carpet someone has installed in their office that they bought from eBay (no kidding, that post was shared thousands of times).

LinkedIn’s advertising strength has always been in B2B advertising. Improving this channel will I believe prove to be hugely successful for B2B brands as they are able to focus advertising to their desired audiences within the right industries, departments, and individual seniority. 

There is a big opportunity in B2C too! Firstly LinkedIn is not as crowded by advertisers as Facebook or Instagram which should lead to more bang for your buck. Secondly for specific industries like Luxury goods or publishers they can use LinkedIn's specific insights to create super campaigns. 

For instance, let's say Goldman Sachs investment bankers get paid their bonuses in January; Rolex could put together a campaign specifically targeted at Goldman Sachs bankers of a certain seniority who are due their bonus - Cha-Ching!