Use LinkedIn? Check out the New Mobile Profiles

Opinions of LinkedIn seem to range from positive to negative via indifferent. Most modern businesspeople have a LinkedIn profile, but anecdotally many say that they set the profile up and forgot about it.

At the other end of the scale, you have individuals who use LinkedIn very proactively, joining multitudes of groups, sharing endorsements and using the platform truly as intended—for business networking.

Now, LinkedIn have launched a newly enhanced mobile profile feature that’s sure to appeal to the LinkedIn enthusiasts. What’s more, it could attract back some of the people who joined the site only to quickly lose enthusiasm.

Mobile Profiles

LinkedIn has long been available on mobile devices, but the app has now been significantly updated in response to the company’s research, which revealed that 43% of LinkedIn access actually takes place from mobile devices.

LinkedIn’s new mobile profiles make the platform the perfect way to do homework on business contacts or interviewees on the way to a meeting, or to add them as a connection as soon as a meeting has taken place.

It seems that LinkedIn hope that a better mobile experience will make the social network more of a day-to-day tool for professionals, rather than a place that many only occasionally visit to look somebody up. As Charlton Soesanto wrote on LinkedIn’s blog, they looked to “innovate and radically rethink, focus and simplify what’s most important.” 

One demographic that does often turn to LinkedIn after ignoring it is people who have found themselves lacking work, as it’s a good place to reach out for job opportunities.

LinkedIn seem to have realized this, and have launched a new Job Search app for iOS. This seems like a sensible move, especially given that 40% of the people using LinkedIn are using it specifically to find work.

There are also four more LinkedIn apps available, named “Recruiter,” “Pulse,” “Connected,” and “SlideShare.” While it’s fair to say that these probably only appeal to the real LinkedIn enthusiasts (or the PR companies and Headhunters!) it’s clear LinkedIn are serious about producing a truly comprehensive mobile offering for the 43% of users who prefer an app-based experience to a traditional website.

So, if you’re one of those people who joined LinkedIn some time ago and haven’t gone back there since, maybe it’s time to revisit, and see what the business social network can do for you?