What’s New on LinkedIn

2023 was a time of significant change on LinkedIn, marked by over 150 updates to it the platform.

With some of these updates only occurring in the last couple of weeks, you may not have access just yet!

Updates that are rolled out to members on LinkedIn usually follow a standard approach. They are randomised and staggered so that LinkedIn can evaluate, adjust and sometimes eliminate during the rollout.

Ranging from slight interface adjustments to key new features, here is a summary of just some of these changes across your profile, content and connections.

Personal Profile Updates

In the world of digital-first, people learn about you online before they meet you in person.

When someone searches your name on Google, there's a high probability that your LinkedIn profile will be among the top search results.

LinkedIn Public Profile View

LinkedIn has made changes to how the public profile is viewed (when you are not logged into LinkedIn). When a profile is returned in search results, the Experience section is now blurred, making Boolean X-Ray search a less effective way to search. You can see an example in the image below.

Custom Button Links

Available to those in creator mode and located on the top panel of your personal profile, you have the option of a custom button click. The options you can select have been updated. You can now make these - book an appointment, visit my store, visit my website, view my portfolio, view my blog or customise it.

Personal Profile Featured Section

The featured section on your LinkedIn personal profile has been updated so you can pin important details to the top of your profile in the Featured section. You can feature a post, a newsletter, an article, a link or media.

In addition, premium users can spotlight additional details that include experience, licences and certifications, recommendations and courses.

Talks About #

In search, a "People who talk about #" filter has been added to the search results.

These search results feature people in your network who have turned on Creator mode and added that talks about # in their profiles – for those in creator mode, another reason to make sure that the talks about hashtags are currently what you want to be known for and talk about.

LinkedIn Content Updates

Content Searching

Looking for a particular type of content on LinkedIn?

You can now search for particular content types. This has been added to search allowing us to further filter our results by Videos, Job posts, Live videos, Images, Newsletters, Articles or Documents.

LinkedIn, Content and AI

LinkedIn has integrated AI into new content related features that include:

• Drafting posts using AII: This is a premium feature to help Content Creators with their initial draft of their post.
• Reviewing comments: Are you sure you want to post this? is an AI assisted pre-post Comment review. This feature identifies and warns us of language that's been reported in the past.
• Designing post images: Based on Microsoft Designer , is integrated into the post function allows members to create a post graphic.
• Providing Ideas: If you are in Creator mode, get suggested topics and ideas.

LinkedIn Articles and Newsletters

LinkedIn now allows a company page or creator to host up-to 5 newsletters. This will help to expand the audience while providing highly customised content.

Article editing continues to improve and the tools have been updated. This includes code boxes to integrate external code and blockquotes.

Immersive reader, which is a Microsoft product, has been added to Articles/Newsletters that allows the content read aloud.

LinkedIn Collaborative Articles

Another change around articles has been the introduction of the Collaborative Article.

Collaborative articles are knowledge topics published by LinkedIn with insights and perspectives added by the LinkedIn community, developed with the LinkedIn Editorial team, on trending topics for members to contribute to.

If you have contributed to a collaborative article, it may show up in the feed of your connections, like a post. Comments can be upvoted. As a result of contributions to Collaborative articles, a Top Community Voice acknowledgement can be awarded.

If you’re interested in contributing to a collaborative article. you can see a full list of topics here .

Other changes to content include:

• The Articles and Newsletter Scheduler has begun to roll out.
• The Activity page was redesigned to include tabs for Posts, Videos, Images Articles and Comments and will show up to the last two years of activity.
• The Video activity tab updated to show first 60 spaces of post, Reactions and Comments Counts to help profile visitors determine the value of the videos.

LinkedIn Connection Updates

On of the key changes to connections in 2023 was the follower purge which took place as LinkedIn filtered out the Restricted and Hibernated Accounts. This action is intended to better support Members and Content Creators with more reliable engagement and reach insights. You can read more about that here.

Member Restrictions to Company Pages

Member restrictions allows Super and Content admins of a LinkedIn Pages to restrict members from their Page, after the member sends a message to the Page, which limits the ways members can interact with the Page.

Admins may wish to restrict members from their Page if the member engages in inappropriate activities or behavior such as spam, harassment, scams, or misinformation. Members won’t receive a notification when they’re restricted.

Connecting via Groups

Personally, I still see groups as a potential opportunity on LinkedIn and great for connection. LinkedIn has introduced a number of group updates that include.

• Pre-approved group membership is an AI driven invite to Groups that have a focus that matches your activity.
• Active group badges are bring awarded to all groups with consistent monthly conversational activity (where members post and comment). This badge appears on the group page and serves as a positive signal for members to join the group.
• Group analytics are now providing Group Owners and Managers actionable insights on how their group is performing in terms of member growth and content engagement. Only available on desktop and not accessible by Group members. Analytics are available for up to 90 days on Growth and Engagement.

LinkedIn Company Page Updates

And not forgetting company pages, LinkedIn has made changes that include:

• Introducing a "Message a Page" button that can be added to Company pages, enabling Members and Prospects to start conversations with company pages directly.
• Using AI-powered Post prompts for Company page Admins uses AI to suggest ideas on what to post.
• Featuring customers can be added to Company pages with Flagship product pages. Showing featured customers at the top of your LinkedIn Page. Organisations that you feature can request to be removed. Here is an example:

Conclusion

LinkedIn's numerous updates have impacted the platform and how we use it.

As we move into 2024, navigating new features, identifying if they are right for you (and they might not be) and if they are, utilising them to their fullest potential will be key to leveraging LinkedIn to support your digital-first impression.

Last week I was asked about what to expect in the future for LinkedIn, and although no-one can predict with certainly, my sense is around enhanced AI, improved networking and community features, focus on privacy and security measures, and overcoming AI generative content with relatable, personable content creation and media formats.

If you looking to be use LinkedIn in 2024, review your profile and make sure your digital-first impression aligns with you in person, share your expertise through relatable content creation and be engaged with your connections and community.

If you are interested in harnessing the power of LinkedIn as a growth engine for your business or team, let’s have a chat! You can visit our website here or email [email protected] .