LinkedIn.com

Last week LinkedIn quietly launched a new, cleaner profile layout that I much prefer.  The previous layout used a ‘tabbed’ approach that just didn’t do it for me.  I’m a Facebook user (never got into MySpace) and the clean profiles make it so much easier to navigate pages as you browse peoples profiles.  Hopefully, they tackle the ‘network updates’ layout next.  That thing is awful.

Along with the cleaner layout, they also enhanced the progress meter for profile completion and decided to group all the profile tools (send message, recommend, download, etc) in a single location – the top-right corner of the members profile.

Apparently, users complained that the ‘next suggested step’ in completing your profile was too hard (or not incredibly easy) which led to people not completing them.  The new profile meter displays all the actions users can take to baby-step their way towards a profile that is 100% complete.  LinkedIn claims that users with a profile that is 100% complete are more likely to land jobs.  I should have a citation for this but I can’t find the quote on the site anymore – it may only show up when your profile is not 100% complete.

The sad thing about this change is that no one seems to care.  At the time of this writing, not a single blog had referenced the post and not one person had left a comment.   So exactly how irrelevant is LinkedIn these days?  I’m a huge fan of the service!

Tabbed layout vs Clean layout [both via LinkedIn blog]

New LinkedIn Profile