LinkedIn unveils new search platform

LinkedIn demonstrates how the new search platform works.

(Credit: LinkedIn)

Updated at 7:15 p.m. PST to correct number of LinkedIn members.

Nearly a month after unveiling a new developer platform, business social-networking site LinkedIn took the wraps off a new search platform Monday night.

In a summary of the new key features, Esteban Kozak, senior product manager at LinkedIn, said the new platform is "redefining the way professionals go about finding talent, business partners, customers, or a former colleague."

The site, which has about 31 million members, examined more than a billion search queries executed by members to create new productivity tools, Kozak says.

With the new platform, members will be able to refine their searches for other members using more than a dozen data fields, including "name," "company," and "school." The new platform also increases the amount of search space presented by eliminating the need to switch tabs.

The new "In Common" feature helps locate shared connections and groups you share with selected members. Members can also save searches and receive e-mail reminders when a search finds someone that meets the specified criteria. The search tool also adds a spell checker for names.

LinkedIn's new developer platform, which officially went live on October 28, includes an array of internal- and partner-created applications such as a "reading list" app from Amazon, a trip-tracking app from TripIt, file sharing from Box.net, and presentation apps from SlideShare and Google Presentation.

Sandwiched between the platform releases was the announcement earlier this month that the company would cut 10 percent of its workforce, or about 36 jobs, as part of a restructuring to focus on its revenue-producing businesses.

[lightningrob]

31 billion members? That's like 4 for every person in the world. I guess they should shift their resources from marketing to scalability!

[rnjunior]

Steve, I think you mean 31 MILLION members?

[btipling]

Wow, maybe they're letting martians have accounts now.

[stevenmusil]

Thanks for pointing out my typo.

[slecalvez]

Not really impressed by the new search platform... Lucene Solr is good for a start-up but we're talking about LinkedIn... The should've evaluated other enterprise search platforms such as Fast (www.fastsearch.com).

[WeCanDoBIZ]

You refer to being able to search on company data with this feature, but this remains poor. LinkedIn is still a horrible place to be looking for company information, because although it indirectly lists many millions of companies, it holds no real data on any of them. Until it switches away from a personal focus this will remain the case.

Also, I am curious how the productivity features that were also recently introduced to help make new introductions sits with the policy LinkedIn has of discouraging members to accept invitations from people they don't know. I guess we're still dependent on a mutual contact feeling comfortable enough to link us. And then it only works for people we are only a hop away from anyway; it's not introducing us to the entirely unknown who just happen to want what I market -- prople who, arguably, are ones I'd rather meet. Businesses will happily pay for leads. Is LinkedIn missing another revenue stream?

Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz

[Harrison912]

I'm on LinkedIn mainly for the purpose of socially marketing my safety and security web site as well as raising awareness for it's products. Connecting with people there is a bit of a challenge so it's not my social network of choice, consequently I'm not on there much.

Thanks, Steve, for bringing this new platform to my attention. I'll have to check it out.