Usually I don’t post two items around the same topic so close together, but I didn’t see this coming either. Today LinkedIN launched a facelift to the popular business networking site. The new design has a cleaner flow and appearance and a much more simplified navigational system.

The homepage (assuming you sign-in) contains all the content of the previous iteration but they also have made advertising a more prominent aspect of the site. In the top right corner there is now a commercial which certainly grabs my attention much more. LinkedIN did a nice job implementing this commercial for the following reasons:

• The audio is off by default. This is something that ESPN, NFL and many other sites should learn from. My primary reason for going to the site is to network, which requires me to read. I’m A.D.D enough and I appreciate that LinkedIN recognizes that the commercial can still work minus the audio. Thank you!
• 2. It doesn’t loop. It runs for X seconds and then stops. A new commercial doesn’t load, it doesn’t repeat and it doesn’t blink and flash at me. Again, thank you!

LinkedIN has also added modules to the homepage, which are akin to most portal sites. The modules let me select and customize content for my homepage which is most relevant to me. Given these latest improvements I’ll be sure to spend more time in LinkedIN.

A few days ago LinkedIN announced the release of http://m.linkedin.com for mobile devices / iPhone support. This isn’t a huge announcement but for those of us who are religious users of LinkedIN it’s a welcomed announcement.

The iPhone version is not as feature rich as the main LinkedIN Web site but it still has the essential tools you need to be effective in networking. Personally, I like the ability to quickly add new contacts and this version allows me to do just that. If I attend a networking event I’m able to quickly add and accept new invitations. If you are an LinkedIN user I suggest you check out the announcement.

Yesterday, I was taking a client through the ins and outs of Google AdWords when I realized something was very different with my Google natural search results. Every result was followed by an up arrow and an X. Out of curiosity I began clicking on these new features to find I was able to customize my search results. Google was nice enough to offer me the option of learning more about this new feature so I read up on it.

For one, you need to be signed in to be eligible for this feature and secondly I don’t think it’s tied to your Google account altogether. On our conference room computer I was signed into my Google account over Firefox but when I did the same on Safari I wasn’t offered the experimental feature, likewise I wasn’t offered the results with my main laptop using Firefox. My assumption is they are offering this feature at random and saving it in a session state.

Although I thought the feature was fun to play with, I guess I’m missing the bigger picture. If I’m searching for data then I’m usually looking for something which I know little about so what makes me an authority on which results are better then others. Are most people going to take the time to go back to Google and remove pages which they felt were inaccurate?

On the flip side, if Google’s index returns results which are spammy or irrelevant then I guess I could remove them from the index. Then again, I’m removing them from my personal index and it likely won’t effect Google’s main index.

This new feature feels alot like StumbleUpon in that I can give a thumbs up to good results and a thumbs down for poor results. For me, this feature make the most sense if Google is going to acquire a social networking company. Why? Because if Google factors my personal index into their own index it would provide a filter for my social network.

It’s an interesting feature but I’m still wondering how it will eventually be used.

Recently there has been a debate around the office concerning social networking sites, specifically Facebook. These days it is becoming a sad fact that people would rather send you and e-mail or a text message rather than call you on the phone or (gasp!) talk to you in person. Social networking sites have become enablers to this new trend of social phobic socializing. So, being the adapting person that I am, instead of rejecting this brave new world of internet and cell phones, I have decided to embrace it. The question now is: what are the new unspoken social rules of this new social game?

The debate in the office started when my co-worker Bruce pointed out that having too many facebook friends is pointless. Whenever someone tried to add him as a friend whom Bruce didn’t deem worthy of his friend list, he would sweetly deny the friend request. I promptly disagreed with him. My reasoning is the fact that facebook is not the only socializing that you will have with your friends, and I believe that facebook is only a tool to look someone up or keep in touch with someone you may have not been able to keep in touch with on a normal basis (for example it’s a little difficult/expensive to talk to my Canadian friends on the phone let alone in person).

I personally feel that if someone is picky about what friends they add they are saying that facebook isn’t “social networking,” it’s socializing with the people that you would socialize with anyway. What’s wrong with a childhood friend looking you up years later to see how your life turned out? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that people should be completely lax with their friend list… there are some weirdoes out there.

All I am saying is there is nothing wrong with accepting a friend even if you haven’t talked to them for ten years. They might even shoot you a message letting you know they are still in the area and the two of you should meet up for coffee. Look at that! I real life friend! That wasn’t so hard, was it?