LinkedIn adding new training features, news feeds and ‘bots’

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner said the company is planning to build more chatbots in the future by using Microsoft’s tech. What LinkedIn is doing is simply copying the education service and meshing it with its data so while you’re on the professional social network, you can learn new skills based on the context of jobs you want or are interested in.

The changes – which include the biggest redesign of its desktop site since LinkedIn’s inception, expansion of its messaging service, and the introduction of a trending news feed- arrive just months after the company was acquired by Microsoft. Facebook, Apple, and Google are already offering their first AI messaging services. A new “Interest Feed” will offer a collection of articles, posts and opinion pieces on major news events or current issues.

The bot will pull info from users’ calendars to help find time for people to meet, then suggest physical meeting locations based on where the two people have met in the past.

In addition to the new learning feature, LinkedIn redesigned its feed, the look of its desktop application and its messaging. The social network is also launching a new learning platform that incorporates the massive database of online courses offered by its subsidiary Lynda.com to offer customized recommendations to its users.

“Since our new mobile app was introduced previous year and the rehaul of our messaging platform, we’ve seen a 240 percent increase in the number of messages sent”, stated Ryan Rolonsky, VP product, LinkedIn. Weiner and other executives say they want to make the site useful for more than just job-hunting.

“With more than 450 million member profiles and billions of engagements, we have a unique view of how jobs, industries, organizations and skills evolve over time”.

“There is a critical need to help people acquire new skills through a highly personalized, data-driven and engaging learning experience”, Ryan Roslansky, vice president of product at LinkedIn, wrote in a blog post.

LinkedIn has measured an increase in routine visits to its website and mobile apps over the a year ago, Roslansky said, even after the company cut back on the volume of email notifications that it sends to members. “We found with our mobile experience, when you clean up the interface, when you focus on the things that matter, we help people get the most value of LinkedIn, and this gets them more engaged on the platform”, she said.

Weiner, who is expected to continue running LinkedIn as a semi-independent subsidiary of Microsoft, said the two companies are working on ways to integrate some services.

For more details on the philosophy behind the acquisition or what other benefits could come from LinkedIn and Microsoft’s integration, give the interview a whirl.