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Does Opportunity Knock?
Professional marketers don’t have to be afraid of 2014 LinkedIn Changes. Yet, they should be aware of them… using them for a networking advantage. In this post we’ll share the highlights, noting the implications to how you can connect with other businesses, potential employees and even customers.
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Some of the 2014 LinkedIn Changes
One of the big changes is the inability to search status updates of your extended network. Before, it was easy enough to see who was talking about what via LinkedIn Signal, which no longer exists. Another feature that the social network has removed is LinkedIn Today, which was a news reader that showed you topics of interest. LinkedIn Pulse replaces Today in the mobile app, providing content created by LinkedIn users in addition to posts that may interest you.
Organizing Connections Is Now More Cumbersome
LinkedIn Contacts is one of the 2014 LinkedIn changes. This provides an entirely new way for users to manage their professional networks. The premium feature Profile Organizer, which enabled users to categorize and leave notes for contacts, has been deprecated. If you previously used Organizer, your changes will be available in Connections, which all users have access to.
Communication Frustration
Communicating within LinkedIn could be more frustrating if you liked the ability to send messages based on geographical locations. Now, you’ll have to tag your contacts and send messages to everyone within the tag to achieve the same effect.
New Showcase Pages
One of the new additions to LinkedIn are Showcase Pages. You’d use this function rather than listing products or services provided by your company so it’s readily available on the social network. Showcase Pages work well for specific brands or lines within your company, but they may not be the ideal solution for smaller or medium-sized companies. However, enterprises will certainly find this to be one of the more useful 2014 LinkedIn changes.
While not everyone loves Showcase Pages, most LinkedIn users are happy to see a publishing platform that allows them to post to a blog directly on the site. Similarly to Facebook’s Notes, all users now have access (they tested this function with just a few hundred beta users). This is also great for B2B marketing and sales because the publishing platform highlights authors on LinkedIn.
Breathing New Life?
Whether you love or hate these changes at LinkedIn, you can’t argue that the site is stagnant. The developers keep adding functions and fine-turning features that keep LinkedIn relevant in 2014 and beyond. In some ways, the website for businesses has become more like other social networks. Yet the 2014 LinkedIn changes don’t distract from the fact that the website is all about business-to-business networking.
What do you think of the 2014 LinkedIn changes? See any welcome additions or simply a social networking hassle?
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Photo credit top: Bruno Girin
Photo credit body: Luc Legay
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