• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechLinkedIn

LinkedIn’s Long Promised Facelift Is Here

Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 19, 2017, 9:00 AM ET
New LinkedIn feed.
New LinkedIn feed.LinkedIn

If you were eagerly anticipating LinkedIn’s new desktop design, your wait is over. On Thursday, the company unveiled its new desktop look-and-feel, which includes a streamlined, less cluttered, and uniform look across the social network.

And, if all that feels familiar, it’s probably because you’re a LinkedIn mobile user. The company rolled out a new, more spare, mobile app a year ago.

“We’re a mobile-first company, and we built off the mobile app launched last year,” said Amy Parnell, senior director of design for LinkedIn, which as of last month is part of Microsoft (MSFT).

Both the desktop and mobile applications build off the same base and will now “stay in lockstep,” Chris Pruett, senior director of engineering told Fortune in advance of the launch. The company says 60% of its traffic now originates from mobile devices

Indeed, the look is much cleaner, with more white space. And, much to my relief, navigating between the various modules—profile, home, messaging, jobs, notifications, my network, etc.—is much easier. You click on “more” in the upper right corner to access other modules, and the look of all the modules is now consistent.

In addition, there is now one search box for everything: People, jobs, companies. LinkedIn says it will also add the ability to search posts as well. However, some advanced search features that were previously available to Premium users have been discontinued.

A spokeswoman confirmed that change, saying that as the company tried to simplify the application, it discontinued advanced premium search options, which she said were not heavily used. Customers with pricier Recruiter or Sales Navigator accounts can still use advanced search.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

And users can more easily opt out of notifications they find superfluous and annoying. If you’re sick of being prompted to send happy birthday or holiday greetings to people you barely know, you should be able to opt out completely, although I have not been able to do so with the new product. The spokeswoman said the company continues to add settings that will let users choose and control what they wish to receive.

More to the point, Pruett said LinkedIn is getting smarter about discerning which contacts a member is close to or might care about and will “surface” notifications about job changes of people that you might have an affinity with but not about people you might not care about.

Basically, users should be notified less often, period, and only about people and events they care about. That should be a relief to the many LinkedIn users who have complained about getting pinged about things they simply don’t care about. Here’s the old interface:

And here’s its replacement.

Aside from the new look, Pruett and Parnell also vowed that LinkedIn generally, by virtue of the data that its software sees and analyzes, is getting smarter about what each user cares about. For example, it will only suggest endorsements about people you interact with, or share skills with, and/or are otherwise of interest to you.

For more on LinkedIn and Microsoft, watch:

If that works as advertised, it will be a big deal. As one wag told Fortune for an earlier story detailing a wish list for LinkedIn: “I love getting endorsements on skills I don’t have from people I don’t know.”

The stakes for LinkedIn and its new corporate overlord are high. While LinkedIn is seen as “the Facebook for professionals,” it faces challenges, not the least of which was its old design. But given that Facebook (FB) itself appears to be gunning for corporate prominence with its new Workplace, and that Microsoft rivals like Salesforce.com (CRM) are now wary of a Microsoft-owned LinkedIn, the company has to tread a fine line.

DATE (01/19/2017 9:30 a.m): This story was updated to add comments from LinkedIn regarding notifications and search.

About the Author
Barb Darrow
By Barb Darrow
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Retail
Trump just declared Christmas Eve a national holiday. Here’s what’s open and closed
By Dave SmithDecember 24, 2025
20 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Trump turns government into giant debt collector with threat to garnish wages on millions of Americans in default on student loans
By Annie Ma and The Associated PressDecember 24, 2025
19 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Financial experts warn future winner of the $1.7 billion Powerball: Don't make these common money mistakes
By Ashley LutzDecember 23, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Obama's former top economic advisor says he feels 'a tiny bit bad' for Trump because gas prices are low, but consumer confidence is still plummeting 
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 24, 2025
13 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Law
Disgraced millennial Frank founder Charlie Javice hits JPMorgan with $74 million legal bill, including $530 in gummy bears and $347 'afternoon snack'
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 23, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
'When we got out of college, we had a job waiting for us': 80-year-old boomer says her generation left behind a different economy for her grandkids
By Mike Schneider and The Associated PressDecember 23, 2025
2 days ago

Latest in Tech

Big TechTesla
Tesla faces NHTSA probe over Model 3 emergency door handles
By Dana Hull and BloombergDecember 24, 2025
11 hours ago
Arkeem and Ashley with their 6 children.
SuccessGen Z
Meet the millennial father of six who rebuilt his life through the trades—and questions America’s obsession with college
By Eva RoytburgDecember 24, 2025
14 hours ago
Vanguard CIO Nitin Tandon.
NewslettersCIO Intelligence
How investment giant Vanguard’s CIO is placing big tech bets today to create the AI digital advisor of tomorrow
By John KellDecember 24, 2025
16 hours ago
Calvin Butler, President and CEO, Exelon
EnergyUtilities
Utility CEO on the data center crunch: America’s ‘check engine light’ is on and ‘no one’s going to pay attention until it breaks down’
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 24, 2025
16 hours ago
Ali Ghodsi
AIVenture Capital
CEO of a $134 billion software giant blasts companies with billions in funding but zero revenue: ‘That’s clearly a bubble, right… it’s, like, insane’
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 24, 2025
16 hours ago
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
PoliticsEurope
Trump administration bars 5 prominent Europeans from the U.S., accusing them of pressuring tech firms to ‘censor’ American speech
By Beatrice NolanDecember 24, 2025
18 hours ago