Get ready for some big changes at LinkedIn.
The platform has today showcased their new look desktop experience, which, as per LinkedIn, will deliver "a world class, elegant and sophisticated user experience".
The main focus of the new-look desktop layout is consistency, with the new features more in line with the platform's re-vamped mobile app.
As you can see, the new layout is more simple and intuitive, with each element given a defined space on screen.
Profiles have also been refreshed, with the profile image brought to the center.
When you go to add content to a section, the presentation has been simplified and highlighted in bold new colors.
There's also a new presentation format for notifications, making them more prominent.
LinkedIn's also made the Message button more prominent when you visit other users' profiles and put more focus on connection notes, like connections in common and other relative details.
There's also a specific notifications tab, like in the app, which highlights all your important activity (while also providing LinkedIn with new, prominent ad space).
While messaging will also be highlighted on a lower pop-up tab in the bottom right.
LinkedIn's also looking to bring their recently improved mobile search tools to desktop, which includes the use of hashtags and improved keyword search functionality.
There's a heap to take in, and it'll take some testing to get across all the new options and presentation features, and how best to use them. At today's event, LinkedIn didn't say when the new profiles will be coming, specifically, though they did note that it would be this year - which doesn't leave much time for the roll out.
In addition to this, LinkedIn also showcased their coming changes to content discovery on the platform, with improved push notifications and search features, enabling users to get more context and information from LinkedIn's expanding content resources.
LinkedIn also demonstrated their new contextual messaging process that will highlight relevant connections in your bottom right messaging feed when you interact with certain content. For example, when you're looking at a job ad, any LinkedIn connections you have that are connected to that company will shift to the top of your messaging feed, making it easier to get in touch and ask for a recommendation or tips.
And LinkedIn is also adding in a new bot system to help users more effectively schedule their time. Synched with Google Calendars, the bot system can be accessed within a messaging thread in order to locate an available time for you to schedule a meeting with that contact, streamlining the connection process (you can see in the below thread, the user has connected to @inbot within the message stream)
LinkedIn's bot system will initially be focused on scheduling tasks, but CEO Jeff Weiner noted that they could look to expand bot use over time.
And another key focus for today's announcement was the launch of LinkedIn's new educational product called LinkedIn Learning, incorporating the resources acquired in their lynda.com acquisition into a new product to help professionals maximize their opportunities.
Along with these announcements, LinkedIn also shared some updated use stats and data on their platform, noting that since the launch of their new mobile app, they've seen a 30% lift in daily active users, a 40% lift in engaged feed sessions and, amazingly, 240% growth in messages sent, with more than half of their 450 million members now interacting with messages on a weekly basis. LinkedIn's also seen a 2-3X increase in referral traffic, while members are publishing more than 160K long-form posts via LinkedIn Publisher every week.
There's a lot to take in from today's LinkedIn event, and as noted, the full implications of the announced changes won't be evident till they're fully rolled out - though it is worth noting, in regards to the desktop update, that more than 57% (and rising) of LinkedIn's overall traffic now comes via mobile, so the impact, while significant, will be lessened over time as more users shift to mobile-only access.
The new changes will be rolling out soon, with no definitive launch date as yet. You can get more information about LinkedIn Learning here.