Are you feeling overwhelmed with the new LinkedIn user interface (UI)?
You may be trying to figure out how to do or access some of the things you're used to on LinkedIn.
In this article, I'll outline the changes to the new UI so you can become accustomed to what's changed, what's lost and what's still available.
While it certainly looks like we lost more than we gained with LinkedIn's UI makeover, there's still plenty of functionality to help professionals, sales people and marketers to find, connect and build relationships with their ideal clients.
Below you'll find my complete breakdown of the new LinkedIn user interface.
What's Changed with LinkedIn's New User Interface (UI)
Home Page
While the new home page contains many of the same elements, it has a clean, new (almost Facebook) look.
The look of both free and paid accounts is similar, with the only difference being the Premium identification at the top of the box on the left.
Premium Members
Free Members
The box located to the left side of the page is a small version of your profile and cover photo with your name and headline. Below this are two stats - the first is how many people have viewed your profile and the second is how many people have viewed your latest post or article (or your number of connections if you have not recently posted).
At the top of the page in the center is the Status Update box. As with the old UI, you can post a status update by clicking in the box and typing your update or adding an image. To post a Publisher article, click on Write an article.
If you click in the box, LinkedIn tells you that you can tag other LinkedIn members by using @ to mention them.
While you can change who you share your posts with (Public, Public + Twitter, Connections), I would recommend you leave this set to Public.
Below the status update box is your news feed. Each post by your connections is now contained in a large, clean looking box, where you can still Like, Comment or Share. By clicking the three dots located in the right corner you can also:
- Copy link to post
- Hide this post
- Unfollow Connection
- Report this post
Who's Viewed Your Profile Page
You can access this page by clicking on the 'Who's viewed your profile' section of the box located in the top left corner of your homepage.
Once on your Who's Viewed Your Profile page, what you see will be dependent on whether you have a free or Premium account.
With a Premium account, not only will you see everyone who has viewed your profile in the last 90 days, but LinkedIn also provides you with additional info to the left side of the list.
LinkedIn not only indicates if your views have increased or decreased over the last week, but also offers several ways you can filter the list such as:
- One or more specific companies (that profile viewers are employed by)
- One specific job title
- One method people found your profile by
To use a filter, simply click on it.
With a free account, you're only provided with the last five people to have viewed your profile and none of the filters.
Your Activity Page
You can review all of your activity - such as status updates, Publisher posts and any engagement you have with the content of other LinkedIn members.
To view your Activity Page, click in the bottom area of the box found in the top left corner of the home page.
In the top left corner of the page you'll again see your profile box at the top and just below your number of Followers.
PRO TIP: It's important not to confuse your number of Followers with the number of your Connections. Followers include your 1st degree connections as well as people who have chosen to "Follow" you.
On the right-side of the page is a list of your Interests including:
- Influencers
- Companies
- Schools
- Groups
Under each heading, you'll see the first three of each area, followed by a link you can click to take you to a full, editable list.
At the top of the middle of the page is a navigation bar:
- Articles (your Publisher posts)
- Posts (your status updates)
- All Activity (your engagement with other member's content or engagement)
Articles
Under Articles you'll find a chronological list of each of the articles you have published.
In each article box, you'll see the title, cover image, date published and post views (which is also a link to the stats for that article).
Click the view link to open up the stats box for the article.
While not nearly as detailed as the stats provided in the old UI, in this popup you'll find a variety of helpful stats.
At the top of the page you'll see your views, comments and likes - although you're no longer able to see the actual people who liked, commented or shared.
LinkedIn also provides additional information, such as a company that had multiple people view your article, the most common job titles of your viewers, the region most of your viewers come from and how people found your article.
Perhaps one of the most useful pieces of information on the page (besides how your article was found) is the diagram which shows you whether most of your views came from your first or second degree network.
The benefit of this information is that it shows you if your posts are moving past your 1st degree network, which MUST be your goal. It's when your extended network reads and engages with your Publisher posts that you have the best opportunity to expand your network in a meaningful and important way.
Finally, at the bottom of the box, LinkedIn recommends a trending piece of content that they suggest for you to share with your connections.
Posts
In the Post section, you'll see a list of all your status updates.
In each status update box, you'll see the likes and comments it has received, as well as the number of views, with a link to the full stats.
The stats popup is similar to that for your Publisher posts.
At the top, you'll see the text of the post, and the number of views.
Below that, LinkedIn provides you with stats on which companies had the most people view your post, the most common job titles of the viewers and where your viewers most commonly from.
Near the bottom again is a diagram showing whether most of the views came from your connections or extended network as well as content they suggest you share.
All Activity
The All Activity section shares a chronological timeline of all of your engagement (likes and comments) on other people comments or engagement with your content.
My Network
The My Network page is where you'll find your connection requests and a list of your connections.
In the top left corner, you'll see the number of 1st degree connections you have - you can see a complete list by clicking on the See all link.
On the Connections page, you'll see a list of your connections that you can scroll through.
If you have hundreds or even thousands of connections this isn't very handy.
There are a number of filters you can use, though again, with a large network these are of little use.
The filters include:
- Recently added
- First name
- Last name
There's also a search bar where you can type in a name or keyword - this will take you to LinkedIn's current version of Advanced Search.
At the top of the middle of the page is where you'll find your connection requests under Received Invitations.
I would advise against using the Manage all link at the top, as you want to address each request individually.
If a list has a personalized message it'll be shown below their name and headline. Click the See more link to see the full message.
You can then open a window to review their profile as well as click the Reply to Connection link in a new window to send them a follow up message.
Below your invitations is a list of people LinkedIn thinks you may know. You should review this list from time-to-time to look for people to connect with.
Notifications
Rather than simply being a dropdown list, Notifications now has its own page.
Here you can see notifications when people engage with you or your content in various ways.
When people engage with your status updates and Publisher posts (likes, comments, shares and mentions), you'll see:
- profile views
- follows
- endorsements
- recommendations
- important events for your connections and suggestions on how to engage them
Me
You'll find a lot of features now buried under Me in the top navigation.
In this dropdown menu, you'll find:
- Account
- Settings & Privacy
- Premium subscription settings
- Help center
- Language
- Manage (these will only appear if you have them)
- Sales Navigator
- Team accounts
- Job postings
- Company Pages
- Showcase Pages
- Sign-out
Apps
Advertise
The Advertise section is where you go to set up or manage any paid advertising you do on LinkedIn.
If you haven't yet set up an ad account, you'll find plenty of information on the different options and benefits.
If you do have an ad account, click the Manage Ads button located in the top right corner of the page to go to your ad accounts.
Learning
In the Learning Center, you'll find a plethora of courses and learning materials under three main themes:
- Business
- Creative
- Technology
To access all the materials in the Learning Center, you need to either purchase monthly access or you get free access if you have a LinkedIn Sales Navigator account.
Post a job
You can post job opening for your company on the Post a job page.
Groups
This option takes you to your Groups page.
ProFinder
You can easily find a professional to help you on the ProFinder page.
You can quickly and easily find professionals in areas such as:
- Design
- Writing and Editing
- Accounting
- Marketing
- Legal
- Real Estate
- Software Development
- IT Services
- Business Consulting
- Financial Services
- Coaching
- Insurance
- Photography
- Home Improvement
- Administrative
- Events
- Wellness
Salary
Not sure how much some with your qualifications should making in your area? You can look this up on LinkedIn's Salary page.
Lookup
The Lookup tool is for people who work at the same company - this can be particularly handy if you work for a company with hundreds or thousands of employees.
Slideshare
This takes you to SlideShare, where you can login or create a new account if you don't already have one.
Create a Company Page
Tucked at the bottom of the dropdown menu, below their paid solutions, is the Create a Company Page option.
Advanced Search
Many things have changed with LinkedIn's Advanced Search, so I'll be creating a separate article in order to give you a complete look at the modified search and what that that will mean for you, especially if you have a free or Premium Business Plus account.
New LinkedIn User Interface: Wrapping Up
The new LinkedIn user interface certainly has a much cleaner design - with a few exceptions, it's far more intuitive and user-friendly and more closely resembles the mobile experience.
In terms of usability and features, LinkedIn has hit its free users hard with the loss of features in the Advanced Search and tools such as Notes & Tags, and this will have big impact on those using LinkedIn for lead generation and not paying for Sales Navigator.
Stay tuned for upcoming articles where I'll dive into these changes, including an in-depth look at the Advanced Search and lead generation using free and paid methods.
The post Introducing the New LinkedIn User Interface [UI Makeover] appeared first on Top Dog Social Media.