LinkedIn Rolls Out Major Upgrade with Expanded Mobile Search on iPhone and Android

Last week, LinkedIn rolled out a major upgrade to its service on mobile that expands the site’s search functionality to include companies, groups, and jobs. While users could previously only search for people, now they can search and discover many more opportunities on the professional network. This expanded mobile search functionality is the latest effort in the network’s astute focus on transitioning its business to mobile. This spring, LinkedIn acquired a mobile-centric team and completely revamped its mobile applications in order to provide its app users with personalized activity streams, better navigation, and new ads in the form of sponsored content within the main stream. The goal of these upgrades is to encourage users to spend more time on LinkedIn’s mobile app, which only gets a fraction of the traffic seen on the original website. TechCrunch.com reported on how LinkedIn is bringing so much more to its mobile portfolio.

According to LinkedIn, the mobile app is a savvy way for users to make the most of every moment in their busy days and is meant to become a daily habit that keeps their professional lives thriving.

The network’s new mobile features allow users to perform many more professional activities from the convenience of their mobile devices. These include keeping track of industry news, staying up-to-date on colleagues’ careers, browsing through networking groups, and searching for job opportunities. Users can instantly access these search options by tapping into the search box at the top of the app. Then, they can initiate a keyword search or simply tap through categories to see a list of their LinkedIn connections and groups, along with the companies they follow and relevant job openings.

Currently, one of LinkedIn’s top priorities is figuring out how to properly transport and translate its many features onto mobile’s smaller screen. The company has already separated some of its services among dedicated apps. Its card scanning functionality has been designated to the app CardMunch, while Contact access was allocated to a separate personal assistant app called Contacts for iPhone. LinkedIn may disperse other features to different apps in the future, but the company must be cautious not to overly segment its users.

Today, LinkedIn serves more than 225 million professionals, three million Company Pages, two million Groups and thousands of job opportunities. More than 60 percent of LinkedIn’s total member base is from non-U.S. markets, including a number of emerging regions and the rapidly growing mobile base in China. All of these are easily searchable through LinkedIn’s updated mobile apps available in Apple’s App Store and Google Play.

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MDG Advertising is a full-service advertising agency and one of Florida’s top creative ad agencies. With offices in Boca Raton, FL and New York, NY, MDG’s core capabilities include branding, logo design, digital marketing, print advertising, mobile marketing, email marketing, media planning and buying, TV and radio, outdoor, newspaper, video marketing, Web design and development, content marketing, social media marketing, and SEO. To stay on top of the latest trends in marketing and advertising, contact MDG Advertising today at 561-338-7797. Click on “LinkedIn Tops Facebook as Favorite Social Media Tool of Inc. 500” to learn how LinkedIn has become the most popular social networking tool of the fastest-growing U.S. private companies.

Written by Michael Del Gigante