LinkedIn, Stop Hiding People Behind Links
Last week LinkedIn announced an additional
infusion of capital from strategic investors. The company has been
around since 2003 and
Bernard Lunn recently
wrote an in-depth analysis
of the LinkedIn business here on ReadWriteWeb. Most of us use LinkedIn a few times a week, yet almost
no one is emotionally connected to the company. Isn't it strange that a
brand
which at its core is about
connecting people, is rather bland and unexciting? LinkedIn as a company and brand has never paid attention to the human
factor.
At first glance conservatism seems appropriate because LinkedIn is about business connections. Traditionally in America people have been unemotional about work - the office meant business only. This isn't the case any more. Being a big part of our social life, work is definitely emotional. Often we are friends with co-workers and we care about them.
Until recently LinkedIn's website resembled something circa 1994. The latest overhaul of the UI makes it more accessible and useful, but still not fun - it's dominated by links, not people. What if LinkedIn refocused? What if there were elements of entertainment, story telling and human feel to the whole experience? In this post we ponder how the brand could become more fun.
Hint at Humanity - the iPhone App
When the LinkedIn App for iPhone
came out I was struck by how a minor difference in user interface
represents a big difference in perception.
On the website, the list of contacts is dull and hard to sift through.
iPhone implementation
leveraged the standard widget for scrolling through lists and was
spectacular.
As names of my contacts flew by, my brain started reminiscing: Oh I remember this person? Man, that was a fun project! I wonder where this person is now?.
I was compelled to click on some entries to see people's faces, to check their resumes.
The playful iPhone UI made the same LinkedIn information much more engaging. It instantly brought into the spotlight the most interesting aspect of LinkedIn - the people.
LinkedIn as Entertainment
LinkedIn is a great business
tool - you can use it to find jobs or
suitable candidates.
It's helpful for introductions and lead generation, but it underplays
human aspects of business connections.
If LinkedIn were more interesting and entertaining, imagine what it
could do?
The opportunity lies in a better user interface, lending itself to more exploration. A visualization like the one PicLens provides would be great fun - e.g. the ability to see peoples timelines visualized, such as 5 previous co-workers now working for Apple. It's essentially slicing and dicing information that LinkedIn has, though in a way that is playful and useful.
In addition to playfulness, there's a sentimental factor here. Enabling people to tap into their memories and recall co-workers. Imagine a flashback - your job at Yahoo. Remember Jane, John, Kate and Mike? Here's where they are now. Jane and Mike are still at Yahoo, John is engineer at Google by way of Microsoft, and Kate is working for a startup in Colorado.
Will Entertainment Pay?
Would this sort of thing help LinkedIn's bottom line? Not directly, because people are unlikely to pay for such entertainment as they pay for other LinkedIn features. But the pages would surely generate traffic and bring CPM advertising dollars. Facebook grew big because of entertainment.
It's cool to see pictures of friends, to know what they're up to, and to stay in touch. By adding this human focus, LinkedIn could become 'cool' in addition to useful.
What do you think about adding the entertainment dimension to LinkedIn? Is this something you'd like the company to do? What other features do you wish LinkedIn had?
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hmmm
LinkedIn, like lots of other sites, seems to put function/form almost as a statement of ethos. But, looking at your screenshot of the iphone app, I can't help but think that the form IS part of the functionâall the more with a "social" application.
So, if people are the point (and, in what app are they not?), why are they the final consideration in the actual development of the site? On the iPhone, you have to take them into consideration, because it simply won't be used if it's not very much attuned to the way people work.
I'd love to see sites/webapps designed much more like an iphone app... usable and lovely from all perspectives, with no need to hearken to a bunch of text links or otherwise.
Good post, btw ;)
I really like the stock photo of happy office workers... it really makes the story of how boring LinkIn is. Talk about circa 1994.
As someone in a sales business who uses Linkedin regularly (on it all day!) I like the functional aspect of the site. This discussion kind of reminds me of Craigslist. Would anyone in their right mind give Craiglist style points? Of course not. It's one of the most popular online sites because of it's usability and simplicity. In my opinion, too many bells and whistles distracts and muddles the platform. I can't see the management at LinkedIn caring about an effort to "socialize" the workplace. It's business. They aren't Facebook for a reason. I hope they keep to their core product drivers.
Personally I like LinkedIn's interface a lot. It is one of the best on the entire web. But Alex's thoughts make sense. Such sentimental functionality can be useful too. I can suddenly remember that I need to contact one of my peers when I see a note that he is still working where we first meet.
I would add to Alex's thoughts one other thing. Would be very nice to tag my connections by such categories as: classmate, client, partner, colleague... and now imagine this kind of message coming from LinkedIn: "Hey, most of your classmates are promoted to new positions during last year. Did you have a chance to congratulate them?"
By "socializing" linkedin, or changing the focus of the platform more towards entertainment as opposed to their current business orientation, they may risk alienating the core users that appreciate linkedin's professional approach. If users want social - they'll log on to facebook. Personally, I'm on both networks but for vastly different reasons, and I wouldn't mix the two.
I am a Linkedin power user. I spend more than 4 hrs a day on the website. I moderate a group of almost 4000 people. I pay premium services.
Linkedin has never had the intention to talk to its community. Most of the other power users I talk with are utterly disappointed that they have never been consulted for any of the Linkedin updates.
Linkedin community management is poor.
My personal perspective is that I recently encountered Xing and had all the answers to my needs, including a free networking event with free drinks.
I have evangelised Linkedin in every possible way around the web. I have influenced several people to actually turn to the system, despite the negative perceptions. I feel I am at a point now where I have nothing to recommend and Linkedin is not giving me hints to change my mind
Julius
One of the major uses of Facebook is Event Invitations and Post-Event Followup. There are literally millions of Business Events/Conferences/Exhibitions that would benefit from the social touch that LinkedIn could bring both pre and post event.
"Who's going to that?" or "We met at XYZ conference but I didn't give you my card" etc. It would also create regular visits to LinkedIn, perfect for their advertising bottom line.
@richspalding
They recently introduced http://events.linkedin.com but nobody knows what's the purpose.
I do organize networking events for Linkedin members but the company never got involved nor replied to emails asking for advice/involvement/suggestions/whatever.
We'll see what the new section will lead to
Julius
I actually completely disagree about adding entertainment-type social tools to LinkedIn. Many of the people I know who have LinkedIn profiles do not use any other social networking tools but feel comfortable with the resume-style straightforwardness of LinkedIn. The recent addition of Apps is a natural extension (if only they worked- it's very buggy). I put Slideshare on there right away.
I'd rather see them think through the functionality of Groups, which is still almost useless, than spend time on goofy stuff.
I disagree with the article. The only reason for that is that linkedin is not a place to nurture your relationships or build them, its a place where you go to get things done through your contacts. Now imagine, signing up for an account at nytimes.com, and asking them to create a social touch, such as picture or video sharing or adding friends. It won't make sense only for the fact that its a place for you to go and read. Thats all, there is no element to it. So now go back to the concept of linkedin, there is no room for such additions that mean very little to the initial idea.
Interesting points. I really think linkedIn has to be careful not to become overly social. Thats probably why they have proceeded so slowly and carefully.
I've always kidna liked the simple interface. I do however agree with you on the need to move away from links....the iPhone app sounds great (but where is my Blackberry app!).
This company has so much potential and they know it. I think they are affraid to do much.
I rely on Linked In more than Facebook for business precisely because it's not cluttered with entertainment. Sure there are things Linked In could do to improve, like allowing me to narrow my search more - e.g., find all web developers that my former colleague Joe knows. And there is a lot that could be added to facilitate collaboration (maybe some of the applications they announced today). But it's not important to make it more entertaining.
LinkedIn really needs to work on getting people to love it, rather than register on it because all their old buddies are. You'd think a database of 30M business contacts which is available for free would get people excited. But in reality, you can't use it how you'd wish to actually see the value. The tools to help you find useful new contacts are poor. You are discouraged from connecting with people you don't know. As a business network in the sense that business networking happens off-line, it is poor.
Perhaps because many of the people on it could happily live without it they don't feel passion. Give them some features, even if business centric, that they can't live without and you'll get them showing real interest.
Finally, what do people mean when they write that it's a great business site because you can get hired on it. To me, that is a personal benefit, not a business one.
Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz
I agree. Great article. Linked is possibly the most boring site on the web. "Bland and unexciting" is a fantastic way to describe LinkedIn. The site has so much potential but does not seem to be exploring it.
For the 2 years I've been a member of LinkedIn it has done absolutely nothing for me. I've tried to make the site work in my favor but the site isn't exactly conducive to encouraging friends to network and exchange ideas in an easy manor.