#SocialThrowback2020: A review of LinkedIn updates over the year

Throughout 2020, LinkedIn released several updates to help job seekers as well as those trying to adapt to pandemic-induced WFH setups.

2020 was a tough year for people around the globe. With the enraging pandemic, thousands of people lost their jobs and had to face several challenges. LinkedIn, a social networking platform for professionals, stepped in several ways, releasing features to help people during the pandemic and connect them with the right groups and communities in 2020. Read on to learn more.

LinkedIn 2020 for Job Seekers

With the Open-To-Work feature, Linkedin has made it easier for job seekers to let recruiters know privately that they are looking for jobs. One can also specify their area of interest, the jobs that they are interested in and a tentative starting date for the job. The platform also rolled out the Career explorer tool that goes through the users’ skills and searches for work titles that suit them the best. 

Video Interviews

As the act of going through interviews turned virtual, LinkedIn rolled out a set of new tools and features to ease the process of video interviewing for both job recruiters and seekers. To assess an applicant's soft skills, the platform introduced Video Introduction, through which recruiters can invite a candidate to answer up to two questions from a list of options. The feature is optional and the applicant can re-record their responses before submitting.

LinkedIn also released Interview preparation tools, which contains a list of frequently asked questions by interviewers along with videos and tips by experts and hiring managers.

Linkedin Events

The Events feature allows users with a simple way to create and attend professional events such as meetings, seminars and more. LinkedIn members can use this feature to discover and enter groups, network with others and learn new skills.  

The platform further added more features to Events like organic discovery, recommendations 7 notifications, sponsored content single image ads and free registration forms.

Linkedin Stories

Following the footsteps of other social media apps, LinkedIn launched Stories which can be shared for a span of 24-hours on the platform. The feature allows users to send text messages to their followers and mention them in the story. In addition, there is a 'Question of the day' feature, with which users can initiate conversation and new discussions with others.

Following the launch of Stories, LinkedIn also rolled out Stories Ads with a limited number of advertisers.

LinkedIn 2020

• New features to display work samples and explore job opportunities is launched
• Conversation Ads are introduced
• Testing: Linkedin works on Polls and Hashtag Presentation mode
• Linkedin launches Events & Live
• LinkedIn rolls out new updates for Sales Navigator: Real-Time Insights, Collaboration, Relationship Building
• New tools for video interview introduced
• Features launched for community support
• LinkedIn introduces name pronunciation for Profiles
• Updates to enable safer conversations are announced
• Platform Updates: Integration of Elevate & Pages, Discovery Feed, Targeted Audience for LinkedIn Stories
• LinkedIn shares insights on detection of harassing messages
• New features for Sales Navigator launched
• New specialities added to the Marketing Partner Program
• Redesigned LinkedIn UI focusses on smoother user experience
• 74% of sales professionals think sales intelligence tools are critical in closing deals: LinkedIn Report
• Microsoft Advertising introduces LinkedIn profile targeting
• LinkedIn Pages get new tabs for Company, Events & View Followers
• LinkedIn adds new features to Events
• Video meetings improved with shareable links
• LinkedIn launches Stories in India with local additions
• New messaging features introduced: Edit & Delete, React With An Emoji, Bulk-Manage Your Messages, Report Inappropriate Messages, Invite Others To Join A Conversation
• Buffer integrates analytics for LinkedIn Pages
• Features rolled out for Sales Navigator
• Company Engagement Report is released for B2B marketers
• Career Explorer is launched to aid job seekers
• LinkedIn launches Read Me, a series of guides with platform insights
• Sales Insights rolled out, a hub of people-sourced data

Given the circumstances that 2020 brought along for professionals across verticals, it is evident that LinkedIn had a lot on its plate to innovate with and offer solutions for. It remains to be seen how this trajectory would evolve in 2021, with fresh challenges and milestones to achieve. One worth looking out for!