Business network LinkedIn starts improving its search interface

October 27, 2008 | Eric Eldon | Comments |

LinkedIn, a professional networking site, is starting to roll out a greatly revamped set of search features. Most significantly, the company is simplifying its interface so you can enter one search term and find the most relevant people from any network in LinkedIn. In the old version, you have to switch tabs in order to search for people in different networks.

The company has also refined its search algorithm so that search results are made more relevant based on the professional connections you and your contacts have made on the site.

As with many other features on the site, I still find LinkedIn’s search options more complex than necessary. For example, you still have to comb through a drop-down menu of tabs for searching any given feature of the site, such as “People” or “Jobs” or “Answers.” Why can’t I just see different kinds of search results through entering a keyword into a single box?

Still, the site’s redesign is getting better in a lot of ways. The new search results page provides a window of options for further refining your search query, a way to see how you’re connected to them through mutual contacts, and a way to take actions like messaging them directly from the page. Other improvements to search include a way to save search results for later reference, a way to see expanded info about people within search results, a results spell-checker, and an auto-fill recommendation list that shows you relevant names as you enter a keyword into the search box.

The new design has rolled out to a few users, but is letting more opt-in.

LinkedIn has become the most popular professional-focused, web-based, third-party application at companies in the U.S., according to a recent report by workplace security company FaceTime. Mountain View, Calif.-based LinkedIn recently raised $22.7 million at its previous valuation of around $1 billion — it plans to do an initial public offering at some point when the public markets improve.

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About the Author, Eric Eldon

Eric currently covers digital media technology and business news, especially what's happening on social networks and their platforms. He also writes and edits stories about venture capital, and lots of other stuff, too. He started at VentureBeat in the spring of 2007, half a year or so after Matt Marshall left his reporting job at the San Jose Mercury News to found the site. Eric previously cofounded a startup called Writewith, that was building editorial software for newspapers and other groups of writers. The startup didn't work out, but he learned a lot.

  • Venturebeat fan
    Well, they still remain plain. The thing that bothers me is that the fact that there have been many articles written about Linkedin stating its new rise among networks. The truth is that its temporary. Consider this: Many people who first joined Linkedin just created a profile and never used it again and now they are using it or joining it to find jobs. Once someone finds a job, its the end of the usage for them. Now picture the new members who just joined who will never use it again once employed.
  • Thanks for the info..
  • edhardy622
    British law student sues Abercrombie-Fitch for disability discrimination.
    http://www.abercrombieonsale.co.uk