If you're constantly checking or updating your company's LinkedIn page over a mobile phone, the professional networking site has some good news for you today. LinkedIn has redesigned its apps for iPhone and Android phones with the goal of giving them a more engaging stream and more personalization features.
"We want to make it easier for our members to quickly discover and engage with the rich professional insights being shared across LinkedIn to help them make smarter decisions from wherever they may be working," said Tomer Cohen, LinkedIn's mobile product lead, in a blog post announcing the redesign.
Here are the three areas where users should see significant changes:
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1. A more interactive content stream.
With the redesign, LinkedIn says it will surface the most relevant and timely insights into users' streams. Meaning, content streams will feature updates tailored to users' interests and connections, news and original posts from LinkedIn's Influencers such as President Barack Obama and business titan Richard Branson. Liking and commenting features have been built directly into the stream.
2. Updated navigation.
Now, all users have to do is swipe a finger to navigate away from LinkedIn's main homepage. Simply slide the homepage screen to the right to access options such as your private messages, connection invitations, calendars and groups you belong to.
3. More emphasis on international users.
LinkedIn says more than 60 percent of its members are located outside the U.S. In response, the network has expanded its language capabilities, adding Dutch and Norwegian for iPhone, and Turkish, Dutch and Norwegian for Android. This brings the total count to 15 available languages for both apps, LinkedIn says.
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LinkedIn will also start adding advertisements in the form of sponsored content in the stream of these new smartphone apps, according to TechCrunch.
Beyond its smartphone apps, LinkedIn has made a number of changes in recent weeks. Last week, it spent $90 million to acquire Pulse, a well-regarded news reader with 30 million users. In February, it improved its LinkedIn Jobs service, making it easier for job searchers to find specific positions in specific areas. Last fall, LinkedIn rolled out a major redesign for Company Pages.
LinkedIn's redesigned apps are available for free for iPhone as well as Android-powered smartphones.
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