San Francisco — In a novel turn of events, professional social networking LinkedIn has just refurbished its website and added a Facebook like feature, such as real-time notifications, which make it easier to let you know when people comment on or like a post, send an invitation to connect, and more, the company announced today.
The business social network is unveiling its new notifications feature, which will include updates in real-time. when a contact likes what you have shared on LinkedIn, views your profile, accepts your invitation, and more. Users will now see a flag and a new envelope icon at the top of the homepage. When you have something new, a red circle will appear.
According to LinkedIn, the new notifications are rolling out today, but it could take some member up to a few weeks to see the flag icon at the top of the homepage. “This newly released feature is all part of our continuous effort to make it easier to keep appealing discussions going with your network,” wrote LinkedIn official Angela Yang in a blog post on Wednesday.
Additionally, the envelope icons handles new messages as well as connection requests. The flag icon will notify you when someone likes one of your posts, comments on one of your posts, views your profile, accepts a request, and so on.
(Credit: LinkedIn)
“We have been working tirelessly to bring you new ways to access the most relevant professional information and insights to help you be even better at your job, everyday,” states Yang on the LinkedIn blog.
However, LinkedIn began rolling out this feature Wednesday, but it may take several weeks to go live for all LinkedIn members, and push notifications for Android and iOS devices are also in the works.
It is nothing revolutionary being that it is basically a red dot on the top navigation bar that lights up when connections are approved or someone makes a comment on a post. In fact, it is all a part of LinkedIn’s grand redesign plans to simplify site and grow it as an everyday tool.
LinkedIn has about 175 million members worldwide who use the site to engage in professional networking. However, this newly released feature could really make a difference in the user experience — especially on a social network in which response times could be everything. Many people use LinkedIn for finding jobs or hiring new employees, and real-time notifications and immediate responses could make or break a deal.
Apart from having a LinkedIn account, users can create profiles detailing their professional experience, build a list of contacts, post comments and links, join groups, check out job postings and view news relevant to them.
Besides the gratis basic accounts, LinkedIn also has premium accounts that offers subscribers more features and capabilities, primarily in the area of job hunting. LinkedIn also offers paid accounts tailored for professional recruiters and for sales executives.
Nevertheless, it is not a bad strategy for LinkedIn if it wants visitors to come back to the site more frequently. The company wants to be the place where all the grown ups go to get news and connections that are relevant to their professional lives.