LinkedIn, the popular business-connection network, recently updated their mobile app, bringing about an entire app change and with it an actual desire to use the service.
As an entrepreneur, I find the power of LinkedIn to be very appealing, but have often felt the whole system was clunky and spread all over. Because of that I let LinkedIn just sort of sit off in its own corner and I didn’t pay it much attention.
But the new app popped up in my iTunes and I downloaded it. I was immediately pleased with the interface, and it made me want to click around inside to see what the app had to offer.
The app is pretty useful, allowing the user to share updates, view connections, and of course view inbox. The feature I liked most was adding new suggested connections—I added more than a dozen people I knew but never saw on the web version of the site.
The new version boasts:
- A “completely rewritten for speed and simplicity.”
- “Access to your LinkedIn Groups anywhere, anytime.”
- The ability to “Stay up-to-date with your network and read professional news from LinkedIn Today.”
The super simple interface is a huge boon for the app. Granted, I haven’t seen the app previous to version 4, but this interface makes me WANT to use LinkedIn as an actual tool for business and keeping up with my professional connections. So, in that, it’s a total win and a perfect app.
What it IS missing—or at least what I can’t find—is the ability to change my profile extensively, including adding more information about my current or previous work experience. This is possibly set to happen in later updates, but seemed like a no-brainer to me. I even tapped intuitively on my Experience in several instances to add more info.
All in all, this app makes me want to use LinkedIn again, and kind of gets me excited about the service. I hope future updates only bring about more functionality.
The app is available in iTunes and from the Android Marketplace. Plus, LinkedIn offers a mobile version of their web site that is now HTML5-based.
The app can be downloaded free from iTunes and works with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, and requires iOS 4.0 or later, or from the Android Marketplace and works with Android 2.1 and higher.
Comments are closed.