LinkedIn has announced several new updates to help facilitate more discovery and engagement in the app, including a new ‘Discover’ feed, more contextual information on job listings and updates to Groups.
Each of these updates has some level of functional value, and it will be interesting to see how LinkedIn members take to the options, or not, over the coming months.
First, LinkedIn is currently testing a new ‘Discover’ feed, which, as is the current trend in social media, aims to highlight algorithmically recommended content you might be interested in, based on your in-app activity .
As you can see in these example screenshots, LinkedIn’s Discover feed will highlight newsletters, videos, events and more that match you based on your interests. So it’s kind of like TikTok’s ‘For You’ feed, but for professional updates on LinkedIn.
Sound strange? Yes, it kind of looks like it.
I mean, it could be nice, but whether people really want to see an expanded set of updates from people and businesses they don’t already follow and aren’t already connected with seems questionable, given the behaviors set in the app.
Still, it’s worth an experiment and it will be interesting to see if it helps the platform build on its current ‘record levels’ of engagement. It can also provide more capacity for discovery among LinkedIn users who are interested in your industry – which can be another reason to keep your content flowing on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is testing the new feed during the past monthwith some users now seeing the new Discover tab in the app.
Here’s a video of how it works in practice:
On another front, LinkedIn is also adding a new ‘Check out the team section on the job listings details page to help applicants get a better sense of who the team is, what they’re working on, and links to their profiles on LinkedIn, so that candidates have a better situation. understanding what they are interested in and passionate about.
As you can see in this example, the new screen will display both the job poster and the hiring team members who shared the job.
“In addition, it will show the mutual connections (including second-degree connections) between the applicant and the hiring team, to help facilitate a productive conversation.”
LinkedIn is also testing a new ‘Celebrations’ screen in your ‘Announcements’ stream to let members keep up with the latest work highlights, changes, work anniversaries, and more.
As you can see here, the new prompts will give you more ways to stay in touch with your connections based on key changes and events. It can be a good way to stay top of mind with relevant connections – although it can also lead to more spam (like birthday-themed messages from people who would never connect with you otherwise).
Finally, LinkedIn is also adding some new elements to LinkedIn Groups, the once-thriving element of engagement that, for a long time now, has been largely ignored and filled with so much spam in many groups that it’s not even worth it. you join
However, LinkedIn says many people get significant value from Groups:
“We often hear from members how much they value their LinkedIn Groups experience. For millions of professionals around the world, groups are the go-to for advice, support and industry tips on LinkedIn.
‘Cherish’ seems like an ample descriptor here, but still, LinkedIn is looking to drive more group engagement, with new features like additional acceptance criteria for joining a group and personalized welcome notes for new members.
I’m not sure they add much to the overall groups experience, but they provide more ways for group admins to manage their communities, which can ensure that more people really ‘feed’ their time in groups.
These new options don’t provide a ton of functional value, but they are enhancements to the current LinkedIn experience that can be valuable in different use cases and contexts.
The options also move LinkedIn more in line with other social apps, with algorithmic recommendations, improved group tools and more.
Which makes a lot of sense, and at the very least, it’s worth LinkedIn trying these things out to see what kind of responses it can get.
