Cookies help us display personalized product recommendations and ensure you have great shopping experience.

By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    sales and data analytics
    How Data Analytics Improves Lead Management and Sales Results
    9 Min Read
    data analytics and truck accident claims
    How Data Analytics Reduces Truck Accidents and Speeds Up Claims
    7 Min Read
    predictive analytics for interior designers
    Interior Designers Boost Profits with Predictive Analytics
    8 Min Read
    image fx (67)
    Improving LinkedIn Ad Strategies with Data Analytics
    9 Min Read
    big data and remote work
    Data Helps Speech-Language Pathologists Deliver Better Results
    6 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Why LinkedIn Frustrates Me
Share
Notification
Font ResizerAa
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Uncategorized > Why LinkedIn Frustrates Me
Uncategorized

Why LinkedIn Frustrates Me

Daniel Tunkelang
Daniel Tunkelang
5 Min Read
SHARE

Let me start by saying that I really like LinkedIn. I use it as everything from a self-updating address book to a gateway to professional communities like the enterprise search professionals group. I am delighted by the information LinkedIn has assembled about companies just by aggregating user profiles. In short, I take LinkedIn quite seriously as a professional networking tool.

With that preamble out of the way, I’d like to vent a bit about LinkedIn’s approach to search. Directories are a poster-child domain for faceted search. LinkedIn specifically has high-quality semi-structured data, since users are personally incented to optimize their own findability. Moreover, the process doesn’t even seem adversarial–I haven’t seen any Joe the Scammer claiming to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company (oops, bad example). LinkedIn has done the best job I’ve seen of aggregating high-quality data about people’s professional history–in a volume that is not only unprecedented but more importantly is large enough to be broadly useful. And the site designers clearly care about search: they still proclaim above the search box, “New Improved Sea…

Let me start by saying that I really like LinkedIn. I use it as everything from a self-updating address book to a gateway to professional communities like the enterprise search professionals group. I am delighted by the information LinkedIn has assembled about companies just by aggregating user profiles. In short, I take LinkedIn quite seriously as a professional networking tool.

More Read

Think Like a Designer
Cloud Software and Business Modernization: Part One
Jazz Solos & Nerdy Code
Army IT Agency: An exemplar of enterprise IT transformation
Enterprise IT experts on Twitter

With that preamble out of the way, I’d like to vent a bit about LinkedIn’s approach to search. Directories are a poster-child domain for faceted search. LinkedIn specifically has high-quality semi-structured data, since users are personally incented to optimize their own findability. Moreover, the process doesn’t even seem adversarial–I haven’t seen any Joe the Scammer claiming to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company (oops, bad example). LinkedIn has done the best job I’ve seen of aggregating high-quality data about people’s professional history–in a volume that is not only unprecedented but more importantly is large enough to be broadly useful. And the site designers clearly care about search: they still proclaim above the search box, “New Improved Search!” (see my earlier review here).

Why is faceted search so valuable for directories? Because finding someone is often a task that calls for exploratory search. Unless you’re looking someone up by name (and hopefully by a unique name), you’re not performing known-item search. Rather, you’re looking for a potential employee, employer, business partner, or expert. You may not even know what you want until you have a sense of what’s out there–the different companies in the space, the different relevant job titles, etc. Moreover, now that LinkedIn has a significant amount of text associated with its  users (e.g., the Q&A section and forums), it could do a much better job of linking people to the content they produce.

I understand that uniting the social network functionality of LinkedIn with search is hard enough, and that introducing faceted search makes the problem that much harder. But it’s not impossible, and the value of such an application more than justifies the effort. So far, LinkedIn has benefited from having the best data. But users have no incentive to give LinkedIn exclusive access to that data. LinkedIn knows this, and its increasing emphasis on community will surely make it harder for someone to compete just by offering better information seeking support.

Still, the core value proposition of LinkedIn is tightly bound to the site’s search functionality, and LinkedIn would do well to take a more modern approach. Doing so would increase the site’s value dramatically, and I’m certain LinkedIn would find ways to monetize that value.

Link to original post

Share This Article
Facebook Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

sales and data analytics
How Data Analytics Improves Lead Management and Sales Results
Analytics Big Data Exclusive
ai in marketing
How AI and Smart Platforms Improve Email Marketing
Artificial Intelligence Exclusive Marketing
AI Document Verification for Legal Firms: Importance & Top Tools
AI Document Verification for Legal Firms: Importance & Top Tools
Artificial Intelligence Exclusive
AI supply chain
AI Tools Are Strengthening Global Supply Chains
Artificial Intelligence Exclusive

Stay Connected

1.2kFollowersLike
33.7kFollowersFollow
222FollowersPin

You Might also Like

Is Anyone Attending the Information Architecture Summit?

1 Min Read

The Future of Global IT: Its like the Kobayashi Maru

3 Min Read

Data Mining Interview: Dr. A. Fazel Famili

8 Min Read

First Look – Dulles Research Carolina

6 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

ai chatbot
The Art of Conversation: Enhancing Chatbots with Advanced AI Prompts
Chatbots
ai in ecommerce
Artificial Intelligence for eCommerce: A Closer Look
Artificial Intelligence

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?