If it seems like new LinkedIn features are popping up almost every day, it’s because lately they are (too bad LinkedIn doesn’t really announce new enhancements). LinkedIn has launched a new feature providing users with a host of new options for choosing the audience and visibility of each of their posts.
The new “Review Your Post” feature now gives LinkedIn users the option to select a unique audience for each individual post instead of sending it to everyone in their network, which was previously users’ only option. One size fits all is no longer the default on LinkedIn, which is a long overdue enhancement to the platform. You can even now add your post to Twitter at the same time you push out your post on LinkedIn (that is, if your Twitter account is already linked up to your LinkedIn account – which you can easily do in the settings section – and the post is under the Twitter character limit).
Here’s what you need to know about it plus one more cool new enhancement to the platform.
If it seems like new LinkedIn features are popping up almost every day, it’s because lately they are. Unfortunately, LinkedIn doesn’t make a lot of announcements about these new updates, so often times you happen to stumble upon them, and just as often, your friends and colleagues haven’t yet seen them because they’re not rolled out to all users at once.
Case in point, today, I went to post a new update in my personal feed and imagine my surprise when a brand new “Next” box appeared instead of the usual “Post” button. I got really excited (proving that I am a social media dork) when the new dialogue box that popped up centered on providing users with a host of new options for choosing the audience and visibility of each of their posts (see below for a screenshot of it).
Review Your Post Feature
The new “Review Your Post” feature now gives LinkedIn users the option to select a unique audience for each individual post instead of sending it to everyone in their network, which was previously users’ only option. One size fits all is no longer the default on LinkedIn, which is a long overdue enhancement to the platform. Another bonus – you can even now add your post to Twitter at the same time you push out your post on LinkedIn (that is, if your Twitter account is already linked up to your LinkedIn account – which you can easily do in the settings section – and the post is under the Twitter character limit).
For each LinkedIn post, you can now permit certain categories of connections or specific groups or multiple groups to see a post, or enable “anyone” to see a post, which is what I would recommend for most of your content in order to cast the widest net and allow your content to be viewed by as many people as possible, establishing yourself as a subject-matter expert and sharing your genius ideas with others (wink, wink).
*12/13 Update on this new enhancement – it is buggy and not perfect, as most LinkedIn new features are. I went to use it again today, and the new features were gone for me – I was back to the prehistoric days of no additional user options and just seeing the “post” button. Later on in the day, the new features worked just fine for me, so clearly there are some issues with the rollout, which are to be expected. I hope LinkedIn works out the bugs with this new enhancement, as they are with the changes to the company pages, most of which still do not work for me. I’m optimistic that they will especially after seeing it last night work just fine.
Segmenting your audience is a great option to have and will definitely come in handy for many people at times. Thumbs up to LinkedIn on this one (when it correctly works).
Discard Draft Feature
I noticed one more new helpful feature on LinkedIn for posts today: when you create a post and later decide to abandon it, LinkedIn now asks you if you are sure that you want to discard your post or if you want go back to it, which is really helpful and long overdue as a safety mechanism. Now I just wish you could save these posts as drafts somewhere as you can for LinkedIn articles…
LinkedIn continues to move in the right direction with making enhancements to improve the user experience. Although I still have a long wish list for LinkedIn, these are welcome changes, and I hope you all agree. Consider them early holiday gifts from LinkedIn to us.
What other enhancements do you wish LinkedIn would make? Let me know in the comments below!