In a press conference yesterday, LinkedIn announced a slew of new features, including a redesigned desktop, a new “LinkedIn Learning” experience, an Interest Feed and more.
The improvements will help to make the service more visually appealing, connected and foster deeper engagement with the platform.
LinkedIn Learning
A key part of this is LinkedIn’s new learning platform. The company is seeking to go one step further and help professionals get the skills they need to further their career.
LinkedIn Learning will combine data from Lynda.com with their own professional data and network to create an integrated system. The networking site will use its experience to figure out what skills each user needs how they evolve over time.
The system is now live, and will cost $24.99 per month. However, the company is currently letting users try a month for free, with the ability to cancel at any time.
Desktop Redesign
Earlier in the month we touched on LinkedIn’s new publishing experience, specifically how the design is better than LinkedIn itself. It appears the business networking company was aware of this, and a new desktop experience will be coming soon.
The new look is modern, clean and intuitive. Judging by the livestream footage, it’s also fast and has some major UI changes that will make it easier to find relevant info. According to LinkedIn Vice President Ryan Roslansky, it’s the biggest redesign since LinkedIn’s inception, and will be coming soon.
Interest Feed
LinkedIn also gave a preview of their new “Interest Feed.” The feature builds on the existing architecture to give professionals more way to discover and explore trending content.
The service will tap into the new mobile hashtag and content search features, but also take things one step further. Interest feed will send users personalized notifications of breaking news that’s relevant to their industry.
One example given was the launch of Google’s self-driving cars in Pittsburg. Clicking on the custom notification will link to the article, show how many people are talking about it, go down into sub-topics, and look at LinkedIn’s suggested reading.
Smarter Messaging
Finally, LinkedIn revealed plans for a smarter messaging platform. The mobile rehaul of the system resulted in a 240% increase in messages sent, and the company is looking to extend that momentum.
You’ll be able to message from anywhere on LinkedIn, and, in the vein of Microsoft, bots will come to the platform. These can help schedule meetings and simply a whole host of different tasks.
It’s an exciting time for LinkedIn, and no doubt Microsoft will continue to build on the innovation after the acquisition closes.
