Welcome to episode 135 and what a week it has been!

This episode is 100% dedicated to sharing with you the new desktop design that I woke up to on Saturday morning.

It is still early days for the new user interface (UI) and it still has many bugs so things are bound to change over the coming weeks but having spent the last 4 days investigating every link, page and angle of the UI I can confirm the following;

• LinkedIn are unifying the mobile and desktop UI’s
• Recruiters & sales professionals are targeted as members who should upgrade to premium
• The focus of the design is to encourage more activity
• This is a massive gamble by LinkedIn!

This 2 minute video will give you an idea of how to navigate around the new UI

Lost features

1. Advanced search   (inc connection search)

Desktop search is now the same as mobile search. You have to start with keywords but you cannot combine keywords with current job title. Once the initial search is performed you can then filter the results although you cannot see a number next to each filter.

2. Saved searches

You can no longer save a search result with alerts and it would seem that our previously saved searches have also disappeared!

3. View your followers

4. emoticons in messages

Gutted….not!

5. Out of network profiles.

When you find a profile out of your network in a keyword search result you are no longer able to open that profile, here is what you see;

6. Edit display name in profile

7. Rich media in profiles

8. Move profile sections

9. Move current positions

10. Cant move or edit which recommendations show

The above points 6-10 are all covered in this video;

11. Posting updates to Twitter

The option to post a status update to Twitter no longer exists;

12. Video autoplay.

This might just be a bug but as it stands videos no longer autoplay in the stream.

13. Top/recent updates option

Our updates are now 100% based on what the algorithm think we want to see, we have no control other than by our actions.

14. Introductions

They only just fixed this feature but now it has gone. 2nd tier profiles show mutual connections but there is no option to ask for an introduction.

15. Last 3 posts in profile - just 1 now

This is to make way for activity. You can see this in the above video.

16. Additional info section - interests - personal details - advice for contacting.

If you have spent time adding valuable information here in your profile, I would suggest you copy and save it somewhere. When you get the new UI it will be wiped!

17. Pdf Download.

You can still share a profile from the 3 dots menu but the pdf download has gone.

It also goes without saying that all Chrome extensions have stopped working in the new UI (until their developers get to work on them!)

Additional features

1) Many links open in a new tab

This is so handy but I wish they did it for profiles in search results as well.

2) Summary at top of profile

3) Last 3 activities show in profile

4) New size for background image 1536 x 768 (1400 x 425)

5) All profile/thumbnail pics now circular

Points 2-5 are also covered in the above video

6) No need to give a reason when inviting

At last!

7) Personalized invites much more visible

This is what you see when you click on ‘connect’ in the profile or in a shortlist

<first invite message>

That’s it for now, I will start digging into more specifics next week.

Questions

I’m sure you have plenty, so please fire away! I am more than happy to take a look at whatever you need to know about the new UI

Welcome to episode 134, this week there won’t be much to read in the notes because the whole episode is dedicated to an interview I recorded with fellow LinkedIn coach Bruce Johnston.

Bruce and I discuss his recent post ‘The LinkedIn Paradox: The Hunters And The Hunted’ which is all about how LinkedIn need to carefully walk a tightrope between growing their revenues (appealing to hunters) and growing/retaining enough active members (the prey)

Read The LinkedIn Paradox: The Hunters And The Hunted

I think this is a really important subject and getting it right will be critical to the future of LinkedIn.

Bruce and I cover a lot of ground in this episode and I hope you find it interesting and thought provoking.

What do you think about the paradox. Is this the most critical issue LinkedIn face?

Welcome to episode 133, this week I get stuck into a whole bunch of things.

Is Sales Navigator essential to get a good SSI score?

First up, I saw this interesting update from Ankur Chaudhary

LinkedIn say that using Sales Navigator is a major help in improving your SSI but they don’t go so far as to suggest it’s essential. Ankur’s experience would suggest different!

Premium Members Get LinkedIn Learning for Free - well some do!

If you are interested in LinkedIn Learning then you might want to read this article;

How LinkedIn Learning Helps You And Your Team Achieve More

Job Seeker, Business Plus and Executive accounts get full Learning memberships for free, which is amazing but I fail to understand why the higher level Sales Navigator and Recruiters get nothing - crazy!

New Feature! LinkedIn Introduce Mobile Update Insights

We used to have this feature on the desktop version until they removed it a few years ago, much to my annoyance as I always liked to analyse the performance of my updates to work out best practice.

Now they have re-introduced it to mobile only for now but my guess is that we will probably see this as part of the new desktop design (whenever that comes!)

How to see your insights

1) Go to the 'Me' page and you will see the link in the bottom right section

2) Tap here to reveal the list of your shares and scroll down until you find the one you wish to view.

3) Now tap on the icon highlighted below which gives you the number of total views

4) Now you will see the viewer stats by company initially

5) Now swipe to the left to reveal the breakdown by job title and again by location.

I found that image updates are performing much better than video or link updates

The average number of views for my last 30 status updates are as follows;

Link updates - 236

Video updates - 462

Image updates - 854*

*These updates were also all done first thing in the morning

The lack of video playback ‘in the stream’ on the mobile app is partly responsible for the lack of attention video updates are getting. Here is the image update I posted last week to demonstrate the comparison with Instagram (ironically this update was the most viewed of the 30 I analysed!)

6) Now scroll down to see where your viewers are in your network. This will usually mostly be 1st degree but if you get a high number of likes/comments you may find other tiers are higher.

Now you will be able to get a much better sense of what updates are working for you and resonating with your followers/connections so that you can make adjustments accordingly.

Other articles I cover in this episode

• I Paid Linkedin $59 Last Month. They Gave Me Back $59,000
• Just When You Think The LinkedIn Algorithm Is Really Smart, It Does This
• The BAT Job ad’ article

Welcome to episode 132, I’m busy with training & speaking engagements this week so I pre-recorded this episode. Therefore if any big news has recently broken, I won’t be covering it till next week!

You may recall in episode 79 I interviewed the founders of an interesting product called Autopilot about their Chrome extension that automatically viewed LinkedIn profiles.
As I have mentioned in recent episodes, I have experienced several issues with Autopilot recently and really didn’t feel that it was a product that I could continue to recommend.

I still believe autoviewing is a valuable and a potentially highly productive action on LinkedIn so I set about finding an alternative product to recommend.

What is Autoviewing?

Autoviewing is a simple task conducted via a browser (normally Google Chrome) extension. Once the extension is installed you are able to ask it to view a list of profiles from a search result on LinkedIn.
Autoviewing extensions are ostensibly bots, i.e. a software application that runs automated tasks (scripts) over the Internet. Typically, bots perform tasks that are both simple and structurally repetitive, at a much higher rate than would be possible for a human alone.

As a free LinkedIn member you are currently only able to view 150 profiles per day** whereas a premium member (Business Plus, Executive, Sales Navigator, Recruiter lite & Recruiter Professional) you can view up to 1000 a day*
*These numbers are subject to change at any time
** A LinkedIn ‘day’ is from 5pm to 5pm EST or

By the nature of autoviewing, it’s a numbers game so to get impressive results, you really need one of the above premium accounts.

Why do it?

LinkedIn’s most popular feature is ‘Who’s viewed your profile’. On average 8-12% of people viewed will view your profile in return, this figure can be much higher if you view people that are known to be more active (possible with Sales Navigator).
So viewing hundreds of profiles in a day will lead to gaining a high number of profile views which raises your profile, increases the number of invitations to connect you receive and may even help to win you business.
In addition, this high level of activity can have a positive effect on how the algorithm views you, i.e. you appear to become more ‘interesting’ and this can have a positive knock on effect to other areas of LinkedIn.
The effectiveness of autoviewing is significantly improved with;
A strong profile, with a good headshot and clear, compelling headline
Viewing targeted (not random) search results, appropriate to your objectives.

Do LinkedIn Allow it?

I have never seen a quote from LinkedIn that expressly bans the use of autoviewing extensions but I think it’s fair to say that by using them you are in breach of the user agreement.
Here’s what the user agreement has to say about the use of bots;

This however, does not mean it’s wrong.
The definition of ‘wrong’ is entirely up to you - it’s a personal decision.
I personally think that viewing profiles is a harmless activity whereas I believe that sending automated messages, skill endorsements and invitations is spam and therefore, ethically crosses the line.

LinkedIn has limits on the number of profiles you can view and this is subject to change so it is essential that the company you purchase an autoviewing product from is completely on ‘top of their game’ in this respect.

Whilst LinkedIn do not openly approve of autoviewing, it’s also pretty obvious that they benefit from it;
It increases page views which helps them sell more advertising
Users have to buy a LinkedIn premium account for effective autoviewing

The net result is that it is very rare to hear of people running into problems with LinkedIn when they autoview - provided they stick to the guidelines which are made clear by all providers.

At the end of the day, you have to make a decision on what feels right to you. As previously mentioned your ethics do not have to mirror LinkedIn’s rules!

The Options

I have come up with two alternative solutions, Dux-soup and eLink Pro, I like both for different reasons.

I looked at a product called LinMailPro initially but it’s main features are automatic connection requests and messaging and I believe those actions to be unethical - it also Autoviews but it’s more expensive than the following two options (due to those extra features).

eLink Pro

Features

Autoviewing of up to 800 profiles per day.
Compatibility with Sales Navigator
7 day scheduler
Download viewed profiles & who viewed you.
Drip marketing feature. Posts motivational quotes for you.
Will favourite a tweet from every applicable person you view.
Semi automation of invite accept message.
Adds some icons to profiles
Shows number of followers in profile.

Advantages
Substantial business that was established in 2014, has strong backing and 20 employees providing good customer support.
Scheduling feature is very useful for when you are on holiday or away from the office for a few days.
Free trial for 5 days and at the time of writing they are extending that to 1 another month for $1

Disadvantages
Using LinkedIn in a different tab (whilst autoviewing) sometimes causes issues.
It’s expensive at $147 every 3 months or $95 per month
No ‘skip’ already viewed feature.

Dux-Soup

Features

Configurable autoviewing of up to 1500 profiles per day (not advised)
Advised viewing numbers of 150/day for free LinkedIn users, 400 for Business+, 600 for Sales Navigator premium accounts
Profile skip feature (skipped if viewed within the last x number of days)
Google X-ray search feature (400 per day)
Group members autoview
Download of visited profiles (to .csv)
Auto endorse skills
Variable visiting speed (configurable)
Re-visit based on previously downloaded CSV
Notes and tagging of profiles
Searching by tag

Advantages

Free service allows an extended trial to see benefits
Tagging very useful, especially for this not on a Sales Navigator account
Cost - only $15 per month for Pro version

Disadvantages

Small and somewhat anonymous business behind the software
No scheduling
Auto endorse feature encourages bad practice.

Summary

I have used both products extensively over the last month or so, interchanging between them regularly to make a realistic comparison.
At the end of the day I think both are great and well worth considering.

Dux-Soup’s greatest benefit is pricing whereas eLink pro has the useful scheduling feature and the company behind it does give me more confidence of longevity and capable customer support is something not to be sniffed at given that the reason I am looking at these products is due to Autopilot’s deficiencies in that area!

Welcome to episode 131, this week’s episode is mostly dedicated to the big news announced by LinkedIn last week.

I believe these changes will have a significant impact on how we use LinkedIn, it’s going to take a fair bit of getting used to…once we have it.

Before I get stuck into the announcements I did see one interesting article about Facebook for Work, which is going to be launched very soon.
Personally I think it will be a major flop…..What do you think?

The New LinkedIn Design

This is Amy Parnell, Senior Director, User Experience Design on stage, explaining the new design.

Below is a screenshot of the new homepage with arrows pointing to all the subjects I discuss in the podcast;

I also made a short video explaining some of the changes
<embed https://youtu.be/iTuHCOV-RpE>

and here is the new look profile;

The New Feed

This doesn’t actually look much different but apparently they have been making lots of changes ‘under the hood’, the idea is that we should see more relevant posts and articles in our feed and under ‘trending’

New Messaging

Potentially very exciting! This is how the new messaging app will look in the main page (as opposed to the Messages page)

LinkedIn Learning

I’m not convinced about a subscription model for pricing but they are allowing Job seeker, Business Plus and Executive premium account holders free access to LinkedIn Learning. Shockingly though Sales Navigator and Recruiter premium account holders do not get access. Where is the logic in that?

That’s it for this week, I hope you found that useful.

If you get the new design, please get in touch and let me know what you think.