The new new new LinkedIn

My LinkedIn profile, 2017 edition

We used to talk a lot about Facebook changes, big and small. Each one would roil the community, demanding a rollback to the previous iteration.

But Facebook marched on, and it seems like we’ve made peace with its ongoing evolution.

LinkedIn has upgraded its look for the first time in years, rolling it out to segments of users. I finally saw it on my account last week. I’m underwhelmed.

Essentially, profile pages have a new look, but no new functionality. They’re more compact, hiding details about jobs, education, awards and more until a user clicks to see more. All that time spent fleshing out a profile seems to be for naught.

Whether on the app or desktop version, the front page timeline is virtually a clone of Facebook’s timeline. Surely, that’s by design. The upgrade hasn’t made it any more compelling than before.

For casual and infrequent users of LinkedIn, I wonder what the draw is. Networking, professional development, sales and job search don’t appear to have improved in the redesign. Maybe new owner Microsoft will have big ideas to implement in 2017 and 2018.

For the moment, LinkedIn looks shinier with no real added value. I discovered a few useful tools by wandering around (compare salaries, take courses), but I doubt people will jump on board for these amenities.

Meanwhile, I see friends and businesses trying out Facebook Live all the time. And Facebook just launched a Jobs feature, an opportunity for companies to hire and for users to apply.

Competition is good, but will LinkedIn evolve into a more useful tool? And will users care enough to engage?

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More on the redesign from Wired.

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Video: LinkedIn Desktop Redesign