LinkedIn Bets Big on Mobile, Unveils 3 New Updates

Nearly a quarter (23 percent) of LinkedIn’s users visit the service through a mobile site, according to new stats released on its blog. That’s up from 10 percent a year ago.

As LinkedIn continues to emphasize its mobile offering, the social network for professionals has announced three updates to its site and mobile app: real-time notifications, Company Pages and a handful of new languages available to iPad users.

Here’s a look at what’s new and what you can expect the next time you log on.

1. Real-Time Notifications

The newest addition to LinkedIn is a real-time notification center, which alerts you when someone likes what you’ve shared on the site, views your profile or accepts your invitation, for example.

You’ll see a notification flag at the top of your homepage and a new Inbox envelope icon, says LinkedIn’s Angela Yang, associate product manager at LinkedIn. A red circle appears when you have something new, such as comments or likes on your shares, an accepted connection request, new inMails and more. These notifications are similar to what you see on Facebook.

“This new feature is all part of our ongoing effort to make it easier to keep engaging discussions going with your network,” Yang says.

These new notifications will also be available on Android mobile devices, iPhones and iPad apps, and are rolling out to all users over the next few weeks.

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2. LinkedIn Company Pages Get a New Look

If you follow companies on LinkedIn, you’ll notice that these pages are getting a facelift that focuses on simplicity.

“For members, this means easier access to the information you want about the companies you care about. For companies, this means a more powerful way to build relationships with your target audience on LinkedIn,” writes LinkedIn product manager Mike Grishaver on LinkedIn’s blog.

LinkedIn is redesigning these pages to focus on simplicity and make finding news and information, career opportunities, products and services or insights more easily, Grishaver says. Company updates will appear more prominently so you can comment, like or share relevant updates.

Businesses on LinkedIn also can now upload an image that best represents them, which “helps companies establish their identity on LinkedIn,” Grishaver says. LinkedIn has also made the navigation on these pages more prominent, which it says will help companies showcase their products, services and career opportunities.

3. New LinkedIn Mobile Features

In the last several months, LinkedIn has ramped up its mobile offering: Since April, it’s launched an iPad app and a new Windows Phone app—and now its extending a number of its features to mobile devices.

If you use an Android phone, iPhone or iPad, youll receive real-time notifications when someone likes what you’ve shared, views your profile, accepts your invitation and more. To turn off these notifications, visit your Settings page and select Off next to Notifications.

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Additionally, Company Pages are also accessible from mobile apps, and job listings you may be interested in are automatically included in your mobile update stream.

Finally, the LinkedIn iPad app is now available in six languages: French, German, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian, Portuguese and Korean.

Kristin Burnham covers consumer technology, social networking and enterprise collaboration for CIO.com. Follow Kristin on Twitter @kmburnham. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline and on Facebook. Email Kristin at kburnham@cio.com