Working with Ali

Ali is short for Algorithm, in this case LinkedIn’s algorithm.

Whether we like it or not LinkedIn is constantly collating data about us. Which groups we join and which conversations we get involved in, what skills we have and how often they are endorsed (and by whom), which companies we follow, who we connect with and how much we interact with them.

Ali also measures which status updates and publish posts we click, like or comment on.

It may sound creepy but that's just how things are in social media and the wider Internet.

Understanding this and understanding how to use it to our advantage is one of the key aspects to been successful on LinkedIn

LinkedIn can only react to actions, it can’t (as yet) interpret feelings or opinions - just actions.

I was reminded of this recently when someone contacted me to complain about the amount of inappropriate posts and status updates they were seen on their homepage. When I asked them what they were doing about it, their answer was that they were commenting in order to show the person that posted that they disapproved….BIG MISTAKE!

Not only does this ensure that the post is distributed further it also teaches Ali that you are interested in this type of content….no wonder they were seeing more and more inappropriate content!

In the links below you will find a link to a fascinating list of patents that LinkedIn have filed over the years, the most recent one relates to this very issue - i.e. how LinkedIn decides what to show you on your feed.

The Microsoft Acquisition

 Welcome to episode 118 of the LinkedInformed podcast at the end of a truly historic week for LinkedIn.

As you would expect I am going to concentrate all of this episode on evaluating Microsoft's acquisition of LinkedIn.

Advantages for Microsoft

• Entry into the social media space. An area they have neglected to get involved with previously which was beginning to look like a serious weakness.
• An opportunity to increase sales of Office 365 via extensive integration with LinkedIn’s functionality.
• Dynamics (Their CRM solution) will benefit the most from this acquisition and potentially allow it to become the market leader (currently Salesforce).
• Content from LinkedIn publishing allowing greater advertising opportunities.
• Big data. Rich information about people and their online behaviour.

Advantages for LinkedIn

• $26 billion!
• Greater resources to enable new products such as Profinder to be launched and rapidly expanded.
• $26 billion!
• Use of Microsoft’s massive cloud infrastructure.
• A way out of their stock-based compensation conundrum.
• $2.3 billion into Reid Hoffman’s bank account!

Advantages for Members

• I expect the under-resourced help centre to improve significantly
• Skype integration
• Integration with Outlook 365 & Dynamics.
• Better distribution of published posts

Disadvantages for Members

• Less Google optimisation
• Another secretive ‘closed’ culture
• Focus on corporates at the expense of SMB’s
• And …..

LinkedIn : Too many to-do’s to do

Very interesting document outlining why LinkedIn are a bad investment from an Equity Research firm. Here are their main 5 reasons;

(1) Lack of key functionality in its flagship Voyager app.

(2) Relevance of proposed job openings or “Sponsored Updates” hasn’t improved.

(3) A slow ramp to get the right content on lynda.com to make it more attractive to Enterprises.

(4) High penetration of Hiring Solutions – translating into slowing growth in FY16.

(5) The technical immaturity of Sales Navigator.

Other highlights;

• New company pages will provide salary data and allow for anonymous employee reviews (similar to Glassdoor). This could provide LinkedIn with a "Tricky balance” to find as many of these organisations are their biggest clients!

• The SMB Recruiter product will be slow growth and likely to have a high cost of sales.

• 20% of LinkedIn members are students.

• Advertising solutions will be opening up their API to third-party operators.

• New members are less engaged.

• Less than 2% of members upgrade to a premium account.

LinkedIn Changes

• New Company Page insights.

• More information on job postings.

Other interesting stuff I saw this week

• Is LinkedIn disconnecting us?

• Contrary to rumours LinkedIn has not removed the connections download feature.

• Some people are reporting a 403 error which may be due to LinkedIn being hyper sensitive

about suspicious activity following the recent sale of passwords. It may be good advice to

reduce activity in the short term until things die down.

• The return of the Galek! The interview with our beloved infamous swimwear entrepreneur!

• Exaggerated LinkedIn profile question.

Hey! We have a new website! The url is still the same www.linkedinformed.com. Let me know what you think. It's Linkedinformed Episode 116.

News

• Changes to LinkedIn
• How big should your network be?
• You Want More Business? So Get on the Phone!

Interesting Stuff I saw this week

•  How LinkedIn Is Able to Consistently          Increase Pricing                                        
• 'Social worth' and creditworthiness: Need                  loans? Just raise your popularity level on                    LinkedIN

Question:

"Recently, I have noticed my profile views are not good as they used to be. My target keywords are "Engineering Manager" and "Engineering Director". In the past when I search for those phrases my profile was always number one listed. Lately is buried deep down in the list.