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Sean Dawson Feb 29, 2008
With the introduction of the Status feature, I wanted to take a moment to discuss the engineering behind this launch. Since joining LinkedIn in September 2006, I've been helping evolve the communications system into a highly scalable messaging platform. This release is very exciting for us as it builds upon the foundation we've put in place, making features like Status possible.
One of the key value propositions of LinkedIn is being informed about what your network is doing. This awareness can come in many forms: what questions are my connections asking? What news is my network reading? Propagating this information out to the LinkedIn network in a scalable manner is a difficult problem, but provides tremendous value to the end user. In order to support this going forward, we began to create a unified service that would provide network updates to users.
We've converted our back end to use this new service, and late last year we used the new Network Updates Service to create a time-based feed of the events in your network. We are currently processing over 40 million updates posted daily, which will continue to increase as the network grows. For someone like myself who has recently graduated from university, this is a daunting number, and yet, it's why I continue to enjoy working at LinkedIn.
To handle this capacity, we use a cluster of ActiveMQ machines for distributed JMS processing, EHCache for fast in-process caching, and an efficient update procedure for when new updates are persisted. We've designed the system to be scalable right from the start, horizontally partitioning across multiple databases as growth demands.
We will continue to provide new updates into your feed, and for those of you who do not visit the site regularly, you will be receiving these updates in a bi-weekly email so you can be kept up to date with the latest activity in your network. I would like to thank the team that worked on the Status feature, particularly Scott Schlegel (Web Development), James Lau (Engineering), and Qian Su (Engineering).
If you would like to hear more details our messaging platform, or engineering at LinkedIn in general, I will be speaking at some upcoming conferences along with Ruslan Belkin and Nicholas Dellamaggiore:
- SDWest, March 4, 7:00pm - 8:30.
- JavaOne, May 3-6 2008
- Velocity, June 23-24, 2008, Burlingame CA
And, at the events particularly the SD West Birds of a Feather event, "There Will be Pizza"!
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The past few weeks have been busy ones here at LinkedIn. :) Have you heard of our homepage redesign or Status feature?
Our most recent news announcement came early this morning and gathered a slew of attention from some top tier publications. As you probably already know, Bill Gates, the Chairman of Microsoft is asking LinkedIn's 20 million users to give him advice about how to get youths involved in science and technology. All LinkedIn members are being granted permission to give answers/make suggestions to Bill's question in real time. It has already received almost 2000 answers.
Take a peak at a few of The LinkedIn Blog's favorite pieces on this particular announcement:
1. The New York Times | Bill Gates and Other Happenings at LinkedIn
Mr. Gates' appearance presents something of a marketing opportunity for the Mountain View, Calif., social network. To coincide with his appearance, Microsoft is buying ads across the site today. It also helps Linkedin promote an unrelated round of changes to the site, including a redesign that allows users to organize blocks of information, or modules, on their profile page, and to write a short statement that keeps their contacts updated on their current doings.
2. The Wall Street Journal | Your Question Here: For a CEO or Presidential Candidate
It isn't the first time public figures have used LinkedIn and other networking sites as a platform. In this election year, there's been a lot of online attempts to "connect" ordinary citizens and the candidates. Five months ago, presidential contender Barack Obama posted a question on LinkedIn.
3. Associated Press | Bill Gates Links Up with LinkedIn
Microsoft Corp.'s big bet on Facebook's online social network isn't stopping Chairman Bill Gates from promoting other popular Internet hangouts. Gates is helping out LinkedIn Corp.'s online professional network by setting up a profile on the service and posing a question to help draw more attention to a makeover of the Web site's front page.
The AP article also appeared in reprinted versions on a number of other sites like Yahoo! News, CNN, ABC News and USA Today.
4. Network World | Gates Shifts Gears on LinkedIn
Social networking has not always been kind to Gates, although he is said to enjoy the technology. Last year, he ran into trouble with his Facebook site when he was overwhelmed with "Friends" requests and had to shut down his site. Microsoft since has made a $240 million investment in Facebook, although it is unclear whether Gates has returned. With LinkedIn, Gates can use privacy settings to prevent random people from asking him to connect to their network.
5. BloggingStocks.com | Bill Gates Networks on LinkedIn
To me, LinkedIn's Q&A feature is great (I've even used it to get
sources for my stories). Although, as for Bill, I'm sure there will be
a flood of questions. Keep in mind that LinkedIn has 19 million
registered users.
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What are your thoughts about our brand new homepage design? Did you try and answer Bill Gates' question? Feel free to comment to this blog post. We'd love to hear your thoughts!
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Mario Sundar Feb 28, 2008
From time to time, LinkedIn Answers has featured some of the greatest minds on the planet (ranging from Jimmy Wales to Barack Obama) pose thought-provoking questions to the millions of professionals on LinkedIn, which in most cases yields an avalanche of well-thought out responses.
Today, we're glad to announce a question (that straddles education and technology) from one of the foremost and well recognized technologists of our generation and TIME Magazine's pick for one of the most influential personalities of the 20th century - Bill Gates, Chairman at Microsoft.
We will be updating this post with select answers as they come rolling in, so please stay tuned. And, don't forget to add your 2 cents to the conversation.
It's still the first half of the day and we've already received close to a 1000 answers. So here are some interesting answers from the initial stream of Answers.
Jeff Yablon (President & CEO, PC-VIP Inc.) kicked off the conversation with his take on encouraging the youth, from his perspective as a Dad.
While, Ed Dodds (Strategist and Systems Architect) suggests that learning from good corporate governance as well as open source community collaboration may be the place to start.
Nils Beers, inventor of a solar powered speedboat, laments the lack of innovative spirit in today's youth.
And for a global perspective, here's an answer from Sanjay Gupta an Mobile Solutions Entrepreneur from India.
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Did you know: Bill Gates was named by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 people who most influenced the 20th century, as well as one of the 100 most influential people of 2004, 2005, and 2006! (Source: Wikipedia)
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On many past occasions I've blogged about incremental changes being made to the LinkedIn homepage design, so I'm really glad to announce the complete redesign of the LinkedIn homepage and am going to to walk you through some of those changes in a demo that you can find below. Feel free to leave your feedback in the comments section of this blog post.
As I described in the demo, there are three parts to the homepage redesign:
1. System of Navigation
We've gradually transitioned away from a system of tabs to one of drop-down menus. Check out the horizontal top bar which exemplifies this the best. We've also created a consistent personal navigation bar vertically, which you use to manage the various elements of your professional network.
2. Profile Snapshot (with Status)
This component can be found right below the vertical personal navigation bar on the left. What this allows you to do is figure out how exactly you are presenting your professional identity, how up-to-date and accurate the information is and basically how complete your LinkedIn network is. This profile snapshot also contains the new Status feature that Chris demos here.
3. Customizable widgets panel
In addition to the above enhancements, LinkedIn's redesigned home page includes several customizable modules that I've hinted at in prior blog posts. Currently there are three light-weight applications that allow you to more fully leverage the collective wisdom of your professional network. Stay tuned for more.
- The Answers module showcases what questions your network is asking, so that you can directly contribute to the network's knowledge and perhaps ask a question yourself.
- The People module showcases the contacts you can make through your network (by using the connections of your connections).
- The Jobs module showcases the jobs and opportunities your network can help you with.
And, finally you'll notice that we've pushed out the navigation style across the length and breadth of LinkedIn so now there's a consistent look-and-feel as you traverse our site. Check out how the LinkedIn Groups page looks on LinkedIn currently.
Feel free to send us your feedback both through the feedback links that you can find on every page or leave a comment on this blog post.
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Blooper Reel: Those of you watching the video demo above may have noticed cameos from Adam, Minna and Ace as they walked past our conference room, but if you're a fan of the "World's Funniest Office Videos", check out the outtakes from my demo, taken at my expense. (Courtesy: Mario and Rob. Thanks, guys!)
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The blog has given me an opportunity to announce some really cool feature enhancements to the different ways you communicate on LinkedIn. Today, in addition to the new homepage redesign that Elliot demoed, I'd like to call out a few nifty features that'll most definitely enhance the way you relate to your professional network each time you log into LinkedIn.
Feel free to check out a quick demo below, of the three feature upgrades followed by a quick summary after the jump:
1. Simplified Inbox
In order to present you with the most appropriate messages in your LinkedIn Inbox, we've altered the logic so that your Inbox shows the five most recent actionable messages. We've also made it easier for you to take an appropriate action directly from the LinkedIn homepage (see demo). Of course, clicking on the Inbox icon takes you to a full-fledged Inbox page, yet again within the consistent look-and-feel that Elliot described earlier.
2. Customized Network Updates
We're also giving you, the user, more control over what types of network updates you're currently viewing on your homepage. By clicking to "Network Updates" ("Homepage Settings") under your "Accounts and Settings", you'll be able to choose:
a. The kinds of updates you'd rather see on your homepage (photo updates, status updates, etc...)
b. The number of updates you'd like to see on your homepage (10, 15, 20, etc...)
3. Status
Most professionals love sharing anecdotes, tidbits about their professional lives with one another and thus far on LinkedIn it wasn't possible to do so. Starting today, you should be able to update your current status on a daily basis, which should provide you not only an additional way to communicate effectively with your immediate network but also tap into the knowledge network you're a part of.
We do suggest status options such as "working on...", "traveling to...", "looking for advice on...", "looking for a job..." or "reading..."; but you also have the option to update status with any other professional tasks you're currently engrossed in. Imagine being able to let your network know that you're hiring or when you're planning a business trip or conference!
Status information will be broadcast to your connections as a network update and will also appear as a new element on your profile page. Given our focus on ensuring user privacy, you will have the option to control your status visibility. Additionally, LinkedIn members can choose whether they want to see the status in their network updates feed.
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Feel free to leave comments. Your feedback is much appreciated. And, let me know how I can do better on camera!
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Ruslan Belkin Feb 27, 2008
You may have seen some of my earlier videos on the blog (here and here) describing the engineering nuances and philosophy at LinkedIn. This time around, I'd like to announce that some of our lead engineers and I, will be sharing our experiences and best practices during a Birds of a Feather presentation at the Software Development Conference and Expo West.
The event will be held on March 4th, 2008 from 7:00pm to 8:30pm at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Feel free to check out further details here.
If you're interested at getting an inside look into LinkedIn Engineering, learn about some of the technological and organizational challenges of growing one of the world's largest professional networks from 0 to 20 million members, or just to find out the process and tools we use in our daily work then this is the chance for you to stop by and ask questions? Once again, it's the LinkedIn Birds of a Feather event at SDWest 2008 on March 4th, 2008 at 7:00pm
LinkedIn's lead engineers and managers (Nicholas Dellamaggiore - Principal Engineer, Networks team lead, and Sean Dawson - Sr. Software Engineer, Communications Platform team lead) as well as yours truly hope to share some of our knowledge and experience and will be available to answer questions in an informal setting. Hope to see you at the event.
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April Kelly Feb 25, 2008
There is lot of information available on the internet. Some of this information may be generated
through your LinkedIn profile. We have provided you with tools which enable you to control your LinkedIn information.
Below are a few tips on how to control your data and establish the desired level of privacy with your profile.
To start, log into your account and go to your Account and Settings and take a look at the following features.
1. Public Profile (Edit your Public Profile now)
This feature gives you control over the exact amount of information you want displayed on the web. Search engines index LinkedIn and display elements of your profile. Please note that under Public Profile you are enable things such as; summary, interests, and many others.
2. Profile Photo (Edit your LinkedIn photo settings now)
LinkedIn also allows you to add photographs to your profile. You may select who has the ability to see
your photo. You can select your connections, your network, or everyone.
3. Profile Views (Edit your Profile Views settings now)
LinkedIn has created a feature called “Who’s viewed my profile”. This feature displays a notification describing some information about the individual who viewed the profile. You have the control as to what
information is displayed if you view someone’s information.
4. Display Name (Edit your Display Name settings now)
With this setting you are given the choice to just have your
first name and last initial displayed publicly. This setting is intended to
stop people you have not connected with from knowing your last name. People you
have already connected with see your last name in their connections list.
Display names are important to have set correctly because this is how people
will find you within LinkedIn. Additional information in the name fields is
against the Terms of Service and could lead to a suspension or termination of the
account. This includes email addresses, phone numbers, or even information
pertaining to the size of your network.
Fine-tune your privacy settings on LinkedIn now!
Your privacy is of the utmost importance to us. I hope these tips helped. Please do not hesitate to contact privacy@LinkedIn.com with further
questions.
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Brandon Duncan Feb 24, 2008
Well, this is the first time I'm blogging on our corporate blog and I've got to thank Mario for roping me into this. Today, I'd like to announce LinkedIn mobile for any Web enabled wireless phones that use the wireless application protocol (WAP). What that allows you to do is access LinkedIn from any mobile device ranging from your Blackberry to iPhone (more on that in just a second).
For those of you who can't wait to take LinkedIn with you on your mobile devices, here's how you access LinkedIn on your iPhone or other WAP enabled devices. All you have to do from your mobile device is log into
http://m.linkedin.com/
The beta product includes a version specially optimized for the iPhone and is available immediately in English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese with additional languages to follow.
So, here's a short video overview (3:36) of LinkedIn mobile.
And, here's Jerry Luk, the lead engineer on LinkedIn mobile giving you a quick demo (4:36) of how to access LinkedIn on your iPhone. For those of you who don't have the time to check out the iPhone demo, feel free to check out five key benefits of using LinkedIn mobile (with screen shots below).
LinkedIn Features on your mobile device (as of Feb 24, 2008):
• Search LinkedIn profiles (including photos and bio) to help recall and connect with business acquaintances at events and conferences
• Research the common contacts they have with other professionals to help make real world referrals and introductions easier
• Invite professional acquaintances and peers you meet at events to LinkedIn with just their email address. Exchanging business cards is just not cool anymore!
• Receive regular Network update capabilities about your connections while on the go
• International versions currently launched include French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese. More to follow.
We're also working on expanding the mobile LinkedIn feature
set to encompass more of the LinkedIn goodness you can access on our
site, including LinkedIn Answers and LinkedIn Experts. (Click through the above screen shots for a better view of LinkedIn Mobile).
Stay tuned for our announcements on the blog and feel free to leave a comment here with any feedback.
Quick Tip: Did you know you can create a shiny new LinkedIn web clip for your iPhone homepage using the + button. Click here to learn more.
Related coverage: Reuters, TechCrunch, Web Worker Daily, CNET/Webware, Mashable, ComputerWorld, Silicon.com, CondeNast Portfolio, The Guardian, Information Week, ZdNet UK, Mobility Site, TUAW, Chicago Tribune, eWeek... and I'm sure there's more to come. Stay tuned.
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Lucian Beebe Feb 20, 2008
One of my first posts on the blog was to announce the Outlook toolbar v2.2 in May 2007. This time around, I'm here to announce the next version of the Firefox browser toolbar, which is used by more than 100,000 of you. So, what's new about this update you may ask. Well, we've updated support for the Info
box in the latest versions of your favorite web mail including Yahoo, AOL,
Hotmail, and Gmail (What is Info Box?). We've also updated support for the Jobs Insider for
Monster, Hotjobs, Craigslist, CareerBuilder, Dice, and Vault.
For existing users of the toolbar these are bound to be welcome changes but for the uninitiated here are the benefits of using the Firefox toolbar. Isn't having access to your LinkedIn network as you browse the web good enough?
You may have also noticed that in addition to looking up people instantly from any website and your web mail, the browser toolbar has a feature called the Jobs Insider. So, when all you job hunters view a job listing, the JobsInsider opens a side pane where you'll automatically see your inside connections to the company whose job you're looking at!
Still quizzical? Check out the FAQ section here.
Convinced? Download the latest version of the Firefox browser toolbar here.
We'd really love your feedback on the latest iteration of the toolbar. Feel free to either leave a comment on this post or email us at firefox_support@linkedin.com.
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Adam Nash Feb 19, 2008
Two years ago, Chris Anderson launched a book that became an instant frame of reference for most modern online businesses. Love it or hate it, chances are you have heard some reference to "The Long Tail" in relation to the evolving economics of Internet-based businesses. (Chris continues to maintain his blog on the topic here: The Long Tail).
I'm not going to attempt to reproduce the full Long Tail 101 here on this blog. The basic concept is fairly simple:
The theory of the Long Tail is that our culture and economy is
increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of
"hits" (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand
curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail. As the costs of
production and distribution fall, especially online, there is now less
need to lump products and consumers into one-size-fits-all containers.
In an era without the constraints of physical shelf space and other
bottlenecks of distribution, narrowly-target goods and services can be
as economically attractive as mainstream fare.
Two weeks ago, Tim O'Reilly wrote an excellent post about Mike Gamson's discussion of the LinkedIn Research Network.
Tim did an excellent job covering the basics of Mike's talk, and
providing a frame of references against our existing LinkedIn Answers
product.
However, there is a broader concept here that affects everyone's
daily usage of LinkedIn, including mine. I hinted at it months ago
when I highlighted how much I enjoy the advanced capabilities of LinkedIn's people search engine. You could say that it's recognizing the power of the long tail of professional expertise.
LinkedIn now has close to 20 million professionals on it, many of whom have detailed descriptions of their education, their experience, and their skills. As LinkedIn swells in size, searches that used to return hundreds of results can now return millions. More importantly, searches that used to return zero results are now starting to return hundreds. Believe it or not, the latter fact is really the exciting opportunity.
So many of our people-related search tasks today are hampered by a lack of granularity. A hiring manager looking for the perfect candidate. A business development manager looking for the perfect lead. A journalist looking for the perfect source.
As LinkedIn grows in size, the ability to tap into the long tail of expertise grows, and with it, your ability to find exactly the set of experiences you are looking for. Those millions of members translate into hundreds of thousands of companies, thousands of degrees, and hundreds of industries across the globe.
Whereas before you might have been satisfied with a simple search for product managers with previous experience as a software engineer, you can now search for a product manager with previous experience as a software engineer, in venture capital, an MBA, and who has worked for Apple, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, or eBay. In my network, even this fairly specific query generates 14 results.
As a result, when using LinkedIn, consider the fact that one of the major benefits of the site is not only finding people with exactly the right expertise, but it's also being found yourself. It's a good reminder to get your profile completed, to add those details about your positions, and round out the description of your skills.
Make sure to take your place in the long tail of expertise.
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Mario Sundar Feb 18, 2008
Happy President's Day 2008! You've probably read our recent posts around the topics of politics, groups and LinkedIn. Our most recent post detailed possible voting trends among LinkedIn users on Super Tuesday. You can also check out the LinkedIn Answers' question from Democratic presidential candidate - Barack Obama.
Check out the the four most popular LinkedIn profiles of presidential candidates:
* Barack Obama | Check out his campaign blog
Summary: I am running for the Presidency of the United
States of America, but this campaign can't only be about me. It must be
about us - it must be about what we can do together. This campaign must
be the occasion, the vehicle, of your hopes and your dreams. It will
take your time, your energy, and your ideas to push us forward when
we're doing right and to let us know when we're not. This campaign has
to be about reclaiming the meaning of citizenship, restoring our sense
of common purpose, and realizing that few obstacles can withstand the
power of millions of voices calling for change. (Read more here)
* Hillary Clinton | Check out her campaign blog
Summary: I was raised in a middle-class family in the
middle of America. From that classic suburban childhood in Park Ridge,
Illinois, I went on to become one of America's foremost advocates for
children and families; an attorney twice voted one of the most
influential in America; a First Lady of Arkansas who helped transform
the schools; a bestselling author; a First Lady for America who helped
transform that role, becoming a champion for health care and families
at home and a champion of women's rights and human rights around the
world. (Read more here)
* Ron Paul | Check out his campaign website
Summary: I have served ten terms in Congress and have
never wavered from my commitment to the Constitution and the principles
of a free society. I have worked tirelessly for limited
constitutional government, individual rights, low taxes, free markets,
a peaceful foreign policy and sound monetary policies. I am running for
President as a Republican to bring the Grand Old Party back to its
roots as the party of the 1994 Revolution, President Reagan, Sen.
Goldwater and Sen. Taft. (Read more here)
* Rudy Guiliani, former Presidential candidate 2008
Summary: Born in Brooklyn, New York, Rudy Giuliani knows the value of a strong
work ethic. A graduate of New York University Law School, Rudy Giuliani
was appointed in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan as Associate Attorney
General, the third highest position in the Department of Justice. Two
years later, Rudy became U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New
York, where he prosecuted organized crime, white-collar criminals, drug
dealers and corrupt elected officials. In 1993, Rudy became the first
Republican elected Mayor of the City of New York in a generation. He
was reelected to a second term with 57% in a city where Democrats
outnumber Republicans five to one.Rudy lives in New York City with his
wife Judith. (Read more here)
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Have you stumbled upon any presidential candidates' LinkedIn profile that you'd like to highlight. Feel free to leave a comment. Once again, Happy President's Day!
Did you know? You can ask or answer questions on the topic of Government and Non-Profit within LinkedIn Answers.
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As we roll out the LinkedIn Answers' question of the week on the blog, let's stick to the theme of Personal Finances for this week as well. Here's a question that many professionals grapple with during their work life: What to do with a 401K at my old firm? And, more importantly, when I switch jobs are there any advantages/disadvantages to rolling it into an annuity? Read on to find the Best Answer to above question.
Question asked by | Matthew G. Sherman (Director of Marketing at Welsh & Katz)
Best Answer provided by | Michelle Ogden (Private Wealth Manager)
As a Retirement Plan Specialist I can tell you the majority of the time
the Rollover IRA is going to be your best bet. As a Certified Financial
Planner I can tell you that the Majority of the time an Annuity is NOT
appropriate. I am not saying that it is NEVER appropriate, so all the
Insurance Reps can back off on the hate mail, I just know the Majority
of the time (like 99% is my guess, ha ha). I look at Company Retirement
plans daily and it is true that your investment selection is
significantly less, but also the fees to be in the plan are many times
much higher than doing it on your own. However, on occasion I have seen
some 401(k) plans that have GREAT investment options and very LOW fees
and in those situations I suggest rolling into the company 401(k).
Without knowing the details of your new 401k it is hard to say. The
thing that is probably more important to know is that the rules for
distribution from a 401(k) and IRA are NOT the same. I do not know what
kind of money you are talking about here but if you have a sizable
Rollover you may want to consider these differences in distribution
rules. Each 401k plan is unique to the plan document. I would suggest
you verify what is considered a hardship withdrawal from your plan
adviser prior to making a decision. A Hardship withdrawal is defined as
a financial hardship that is “immediate and heavy” where no other
resources can be reasonably available to meet the need. Here are some
examples:
1. Non-reimbursed Medical Bills - Provide copies of the medical bills
and your insurance provider’s Explanation of Benefits statements (EOBs)
showing the amounts covered and not covered by insurance.
2. Purchase of your principal residence: Attach copies of the contract and mortgage application.
3. Funeral expenses: Provide a copy of the bill showing that you
are the responsible party and a statement indicating the amount of life
insurance coverage carried by the deceased.
4. Tuition expenses: Attach a copy of the college or university’s
bill showing the amount you owe for the next semester, quarter, or 12
month period.
5. Threat of foreclosure: Provide a copy of the notice you have
received from your mortgage company or landlord regarding the
implementation of eviction or foreclosure proceedings and evidence of
the balance due.
Keep in mind Hardship withdrawals still incur the 10% Penalty and
20% withholding for Taxes. I had one participant that wanted to
withdrawal 401k money for the transportation and hotel cost incurred to
take her child to have medically necessary surgery in another state and
those expenses didn't qualify for withdrawal.
NOW for the IRA distributions:
It’s your money, you take it out, you pay 10% penalty and taxes.
PERIOD! Of course there are exceptions to the 10% Penalty such as
Death, Disability, First Home Purchase up to 10K, Qualified Education
Expenses, Medical Expenses in excess of 7.5% of Income, Substantially
equal payments, Distributions used to pay Medical Insurance Premiums
after separation from employment & after 12 consecutive weeks of
unemployment compensation. I am sure there are others but these are the
most common, consult your CPA.
Also if you plan to convert your IRA to a Roth in 2010 (regardless
of household income) like I am suggesting to the majority of my
clients, you will not be able to do that while it is in a Company 401k
plan without terminating your employment.
I favor the IRA because of the accessibility in the event you need
access to YOUR money. If you do not qualify for a Hardship as defined
by your Employers Plan Document you can NOT get at YOUR money unless
you quit your job.
AND unfortunately I am the one that has to tell that to 401(k) plan
participants when they call in desperate need of their OWN MONEY.
Did you know? You can tap into your professional network for questions you may have on Retirement and Estate Planning. Have a question? Ask here.
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It's been a while since we gave you a summary of press mentions LinkedIn has received in recent times. Here's a sampling of the press coverage received this past month:
1. USA Today | Social Networking sites going global
Wondering how social networking sites have been growing globally, then this is the article for you. Read more on how social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace and Hi5 have grown internationally this past year.
This month, LinkedIn, the popular networking
site for professionals, opened its first office outside the USA, in
London. It expects to double its customer base in the U.K. to 2 million
this year.
"We are living in a global economy, and all of
these economies are interconnected," says Dan Nye, CEO of LinkedIn.
Half its 18 million members are outside the USA.
2. Boston Globe | Advantage, Employees
Penelope Trunk of the Boston Globe highlights five ways employers can attract top talent in the age of social networking.
There is lots of chatter about how resumes are on their way out. There
will be blogs, and videos, and LinkedIn profiles and other mechanisms
to downplay the concept of a linear career and put upfront the way
someone thinks and the ideas he or she has. There should be similar
chatter about the near-death of the job listing.
Did you know? You can create a quick PDF version of your LinkedIn profile by clicking on the PDF link on your LinkedIn Profile.
3. Wall Street Journal (WSJ) | What's your Google quotient?
Speaking of online brand identity, we've written many a post in the recent past were we touted the importance of using LinkedIn to build that professional brand of yours (Check out a couple, here and here). Based on similar themes, the WSJ piece mentioned how one could strengthen their expert status with LinkedIn Answers.
Become an Expert: Some websites offer a "Question and Answers" section and let visitors rate the answers. Here are a few: LinkedIn, Allexperts.com, and Yahoo! Answers.
I couldn't agree more with Shelly. As a blogger, I understand how time-consuming it can be to maintain a blog (one of the easiest ways to strengthen your professional brand online). However, with a few quick keystrokes answering questions or raising appropriate ones on LinkedIn Answers can help you solidify your professional brand with less investment of time. Try it.
Check out LinkedIn Answers here. Share your expertise!
4. The Guardian | LinkedIn signals European expansion
Jemima Kiss of UK's Guardian, covers some of our recent European expansion news. For those unaware, here's the scoop:
The business social networking site LinkedIn has appointed a
European managing director, heralding a new wave of European expansion.
LinkedIn
said Kevin Eyres, the former general manager of search engine Alta
Vista, will head its European service from a new office in London.
5. Independent | The Grey guy of networking learns to mix it with the poster boys
And, finally a post that was one of the most widely read posts on "LinkedIn News", which chronicles our rising fortunes, post-CEO-Dan Nye's emergence. The article also delves into our growth numbers in Europe (particularly the UK) where we hit a million members in November 07.
In November the UK hit one million users. Invitations to join LinkedIn
from the well-connected have begun to arrive in people's inboxes, with
qualifiers like "I know this seems a bit naff but ..." The site now
claims to have 9 per cent of the professional workforce signed up and
boasts an executive from nearly every FTSE 100 company on its books.
That's it for this month. Stay tuned each week for the hottest news off the press in this series. Feel free to check out our archives for prior coverage.
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Mario Sundar Feb 15, 2008
Comfortable & customizable workplaces would count as one of the perks of the much analyzed, discussed and debated Silicon Valley culture. Just this past week, I noticed a blog post featuring images from many successful web 2.0 companies (most of them from the Silicon Valley).
However, since the LinkedIn workplace images in the above-mentioned post seemed outdated, here's a quick pictorial overview of the evolution of the LinkedIn workplace.
* Back to the Future | 2008
Adam Nash, Sr. Director of Product, has already blogged about our office expansion, breaking new ground
and the move itself. Almost half of the company (engineering/product/design) now reside in this workspace. Here are images taken during the move.
* Cube Chic | 2007
Many of you've probably read our blog post on the Cube Chic contest we held in August 2007 when we had just moved to our new digs in Mountain View. What you got was a veritable trip down a Silicon Valley Strip with cube designs ranging from "Camp Runamuck" to "Wine Country". The Cube chic designs remain on the second floor of our office in addition to the newer working space on the first floor of the same building (see above).
* Blast from the Past | 2006
One of our earliest office spaces; it was here that I started off as community evangelist. The pictures you see on the Next Web blog are from these office cubes. Good Times!
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Step into the office space of other web 2.0 companies ranging from Twitter to Netvibes (via Next Web blog).
You can also check out our LinkedIn photo stream for more images of our office space.
Have you subscribed to the LinkedIn blog yet?
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Mario Sundar Feb 14, 2008
With Tax season fast approaching, I'm sure many of you have tons of questions racing through your mind. In the midst of such noise the easiest way to find clarity on unanswered questions would be to turn to your professional network on LinkedIn.
And, that's exactly what Jack Chou (from our product team) did when he asked the following question on LinkedIn Answers under the "Personal Taxes" category.
The two Best Answer selections for Jack's question:
The first of the two best answers came from a CPA at Wicks Emmett Hatfield & Chappell CPAs
Tax professionals offer a wide array of services in addition to tax
preparation, such as tax planning, audit representation, et al.
TurboTax can't represent you during an IRS audit or before the courts.
You should go see a tax professional if you have opportunities to save
money on your taxes by doing something before the end of the year - Is
the AMT going to bite you? What can you do to prevent it? You should
also go see a tax pro if you think that a position you want to take on
your tax return has a chance of getting audited - Did you win a lawsuit
with arrangements that could be construed as lost wages? You should
definitely see a tax pro when it costs you more in terms of time and
money when you do it yourself - How much did the box cost? How much
time are you spending at the computer entering the information and what
else could you have done with that time? Did you miss some nuance of
the tax law that could have saved you some more money?
Stock options are difficult to do on your own because an ISO isn't
taxed when exercised for regular tax purposes, but is ordinary income
for AMT purposes. This really hit home many years ago during the tech
boom with the people who got hit with huge AMT tax bills because they
exercised their ISOs and then the stock was sold at a loss a few years
later - Merlo, Tax Court, April 25, 2006.
Real estate can be tricky because if buying and selling land is
your job then the land counts as inventory and any gain would be
ordinary income subject to self employment taxes if you file a schedule
C. If you hold onto land as an investment then it is a capital gain.
But what if the land also includes a house? What is the value of the
house versus the value of the land? Is it your primary residence? Is it
a rental? Did it switch from a rental to your primary residence? Do you
want to figure out the depreciation every year? What would the
depreciation be?
When you have more questions than answers for a particular area of the tax return, you should see a tax professional.
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The other selected best answer was posted by the editorial director at the Financial Publishing Group at Newsmax Media, Inc.
I started using an accountant soon after having kids. Not that kids
changed my financial position so drastically (love those little tax
deductions, love 'em to death!) but because I simply didn't have time
for it.
You'll find that hiring a preparer is a wash, kind of. You still
have to gather and understand your documentation, which takes time.
That said, sticking with a good one means you'll start to see a
consistency in the work, you'll notice deduction opportunities
throughout the year, and you'll rest assured that (in most cases), a
pro will be aggressive on your behalf without being nutty.
I would never go back, for one. My tax guy runs me about $350 a
year (deductible as well) but it's absolutely worth both my time and
the satisfaction of knowing it's done right and to my advantage.
And, there's more. Feel free to check out 13 more answers to Jack's question, all of which provide unique perspectives that may prove valuable for the tax season. While you're at it, check out all other questions within the "Personal Taxes" category or even ask your own question on Personal Taxes to your professional network.
Did you know? There are seven sub-categories under the Personal Finance section within LinkedIn Answers | Individual Insurance, Personal Debt Management, Personal Investing, Personal Real Estate, Personal Taxes, Retirement & Estate Planning, and Wealth Management!
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Much has been blogged about the "LinkedIn News" feature, which Allen Blue announced towards the end of last year. Since that announcement we've been continually enhancing the feature set to make it much more useful for the millions of professionals who use LinkedIn.
Here's a brief overview of three key functional areas of the "LinkedIn News" feature, which you may have not noticed thus far. These include the most popular news in your network and the ability to share and flag news items. Read on.
1. Most Popular News items within your network
As soon as you log in, you'll be able to see the summary capsule of LinkedIn News, which highlights the five most popular articles read by your professional network. We've also added four different tabs (Most Read, Company, Other companies, Industry) to this dashboard to help you navigate through news that's most relevant in your professional world.
2. More News (Expanded News Segment)
Since the dashboard provides you with only the five most popular articles in the four categories mentioned above, we also provide an option for you to click through the remaining articles in the most read list through the "See More News" link.
3. Share News/Flag News
One of the most requested updates for this feature has definitely been the ability to share news clips you find interesting with your professional network. With this update, you should be able to share news items both from the dashboard as well as from the expanded news segments.
Clicking through the share icon should enable your sharing the news article with your professional network on LinkedIn.
Given that time is of essence for any professional, we'd like to ensure that you and your peers are served only the most relevant news items within your professional network. So, we're providing you an option to flag news items that are either duplicate or spam.
Stay tuned to the blog for further updates and continual enhancements. We'd love to hear from you on how we can make this feature even better. So, feel free to leave a comment or two.
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Adam Nash Feb 13, 2008
As we've mentioned here before, we're still iterating and testing the new homepage for the LinkedIn website. Personally, I've been using the new homepage as my primary interface to LinkedIn for two months now, and I thought it would be fun to share one of my favorite features of the new page.
One of the best features of the new LinkedIn homepage is the ability to add application modules to personalize your homepage with the information that you find most useful on a regular basis. As part of the beta program, we're testing three applications, but this is an area where we expect to eventually see thousands of additional applications.
The Answers module is currently my favorite. For the first time, I'm able to pick the LinkedIn Answers topics that are most interesting to me professionally, and have them available to me immediately when I log into LinkedIn. Since I can add multiple modules, I've added one for each topic that I follow closely.
Previously, I used the RSS feature of LinkedIn Answers to add feeds from the interesting topics to my news reader. Now, with the new homepage, I find myself using the news reader far less for this content, because it's already integrated into the LinkedIn homepage, which I check multiple times per day.
If you haven't started using the new LinkedIn homepage, now is definitely the time to check it out. When you do, be sure to use the new Answers module. I think you'll find that you'll be surprised at how often you click through to interesting questions, and of course, the answer contents beneath them.
As part of our testing, a small percentage of our users are already defaulted in the new LinkedIn homepage. If you are not in this group, but are interested in participating in the beta, please feel free to access the redesigned homepage here.
Be sure to click the feedback link at the top of the new homepage to let us know what you think of the new page or leave a comment right here.
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Jane Corrigan Feb 04, 2008
Super Tuesday is tomorrow! We conducted a poll of our users in the Super Tuesday states to see how you plan to vote.
* Note: We conducted the poll over a week time period. On the last day of our poll, Edwards and Giuliani suspended/withdrew their respective candidacies.
Here are some key findings:
- Independent vote is critical and appears to favor Obama – Massachusetts has 31% of voters identifying themselves as Independents, most of the key states have nearly 20% of voters Independents.
- Independent voters: Obama leads among Independent voters in California, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York.
Here are results from LinkedIn’s Presidential Poll in 6 of the key states, California, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York:
CALIFORNIA:
Among Democrats:
Obama 50%
Clinton 36%
Edwards 8%
Kucinich 1%
Undecided 5%
Among Republicans:
Romney 31%
McCain 30%
Undecided 17%
Giuliani 9%
Huckabee 9%
Paul 6%
Among Independents:
Obama 50%
Clinton 14%
Edwards 12%
Paul 9%
McCain 7%
Other 7%
Huckabee 2%
Hunter 2%
GEORGIA:
Among Democrats:
Obama 56%
Clinton 36%
Undecided 4%
Edwards 3%
Kucinich 1%
Among Republicans:
Romney 27%
Huckabee 21%
Undecided 18%
McCain 16%
Giuliani 9%
Paul 7%
Keyes 2%
Among Independents:
Obama 38%
Clinton 16%
Edwards 12%
Paul 9%
McCain 6%
Huckabee 6%
Giuliani 6%
Romney 3%
Other 3%
ILLINOIS:
Obama 69%
Clinton 24%
Edwards 6%
Undecided 3%
Among Republicans:
McCain 39%
Romney 20%
Paul 16%
Huckabee 10%
Giuliani 9%
Undecided 9%
Among Independents:
Obama 57%
Paul 19%
Edwards 10%
McCain 10%
Romney 7%
Clinton 5%
MASSACHUSETTS:
Among Democrats:
Clinton 44%
Obama 43%
Edwards 5%
Undecided 6%
Kucinich 1%
Among Republicans:
Romney 55%
McCain 24%
Giuliani 11%
Undecided 5%
Paul 5%
Huckabee 3%
Among Independents:
Obama 30%
McCain 19%
Clinton 15%
Edwards 11%
Romney 11%
Paul 11%
NEW YORK:
Obama is leading in New York. Giuliani was leading in New York with Romney in second. Giuliani has endorsed McCain.
Among Democrats:
Obama 50%
Clinton 37%
Edwards 4%
Undecided 8%
Kucinich 1%
Among Republicans:
Giuliani 24%
Romney 21%
McCain 18%
Undecided 17%
Paul 15%
Huckabee 6%
Among Independents:
Obama 46%
Giuliani 12%
McCain 11%
Clinton 9%
Romney 5%
Edwards 4%
Huckabee 2%
Hunter 2%
Kucinich 2%
NEW JERSEY:
Among Democrats:
Clinton 42%
Obama 41%
Edwards 9%
Undecided 6%
Kucinich 2%
Among Republicans:
Giuliani 29%
Romney 23%
McCain 19%
Undecided 13%
Huckabee 10%
Paul 4%
Keyes 2%
Among Independents:
Obama 44%
Clinton 15%
Romney 10%
Paul 10%
McCain 7%
Other 5%
Giuliani 2%
Huckabee 2%
Kucinich 2%
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