LinkedIn recently made some changes to the user interface of Groups section. Like most of their recent updates, the changes seem focused on providing a cleaner user interface that helps you perform tasks faster (fewer clicks to get what you need). Here are a few of the changes you will see in the latest update:

  1. Look and feel – changes have been made to make conversations feel like “real” conversations you have in everyday life. For example, if I want to tell you about an article, you see the info from the article, not just a link to it. Pictures and links to profiles help you recognize the people participating in the conversation. You can quickly check on the status of a conversation by see the last 3 comments (and who made them) in the conversation.
  2. In addition to being able to quickly review conversations, you can quickly comment inline – you don’t have to scroll all the way to the end of the conversation in order to leave a comment.
  3. You can vote and comment on parts of the conversation. This allows you to quickly identify the most popular parts of the conversation.
  4. By following people, you can receive email notifications when your favorite people make a contribution to a conversation.
  5. Groups now highlight the Top Influencers – people who contribute and stimulate group conversations

Here is a short video from the folks at LinkedIn which shows some of these new features in action:




So what do you think of these new features? Will they help you in your networking efforts?