Reimagining LinkedIn’s Feed & Connection Experience

Recently, I noticed my LinkedIn feed becoming overwhelming — lots of content, but very little of it useful or meaningful. Wondering if others felt the same, I talked to friends and colleagues. Many agreed: they felt tired of scrolling through irrelevant posts and wanted a more focused experience. This made me think about ways LinkedIn could become better.

In this project, I’m sharing my ideas on improving LinkedIn, focusing on giving users more control and helping them build meaningful professional relationships.

What’s Wrong with LinkedIn?

From my talks with others and my own experience, the main issues are:

• Too Much Irrelevant Content: The feed is full of viral posts, random ads, and posts that don’t help professionally. Existing filters aren’t enough.
• Annoying Notifications: Important messages and job updates get lost among endorsements and work anniversaries.
• Meaningless Connections: It’s easy to connect, but hard to make those connections meaningful. Recommendations like “People You May Know” often miss the mark.

Most people deal with this by manually unfollowing or muting connections and ignoring notifications.

Quick Research & User Types

I did some quick, informal research:

• Looking at LinkedIn with Fresh Eyes: I reviewed the feed and connections from a UX perspective.
• Learning from Other Platforms: Checked how forums, Twitter lists, and newsletters handle content and connections.

From this, I identified three types of LinkedIn users:

• Active Job Seekers: They want clear, relevant job opportunities.
• Aspiring Thought Leaders: People who want to share ideas and engage in meaningful discussions.
• Casual Networkers: Users checking in occasionally for industry updates and connections without hassle.

My guess is most people skip past irrelevant posts and rarely engage with suggested but random connections.

Introducing the “Focus Hub”

To solve these problems, I propose a new LinkedIn feature called the “Focus Hub,” giving users better control and smarter tools:

1. Custom Feeds (“Lenses”)

LinkedIn could allow users to create customized feeds based on their interests and needs. For example, users could set up feeds for specific topics such as “Renewable Energy News,” “UX Tips,” or updates from their top targeted companies. This customization would significantly reduce irrelevant content and noise, providing users with focused, valuable content tailored directly to their professional interests.

2. Better Connection Navigator

Another enhancement could involve improving LinkedIn’s connection recommendations through advanced search filters and AI-driven suggestions. Users would be able to easily find others based on shared skills, interests in mentorship, professional challenges, or collaborative projects. This smarter navigation would help users form more meaningful and deeper professional relationships rather than simply increasing the number of superficial connections.

3. Smart Notifications

LinkedIn notifications often overwhelm users with irrelevant or low-priority updates. By enabling users to prioritize their notifications clearly, important updates such as direct messages, job alerts, or urgent notifications from key contacts would become more visible. Less important updates, like endorsements or work anniversaries, would fade into the background. This intelligent notification system ensures that users don’t miss critical information amid the noise.

4. Deep Dive Mode

For users seeking meaningful learning and deeper insights, a “Deep Dive Mode” could be introduced. This feature would allow users to toggle their feed to display only detailed articles, expert analyses, research pieces, or substantial content from trusted sources. Such filtering would provide a distraction-free environment, ideal for users who want to engage in focused professional learning and growth.

To illustrate these ideas practically, I’ve designed two features showcasing how intuitive and user-friendly LinkedIn could become with these improvements.

Implementation Roadmap: What’s Realistic?

For quick wins, features like Smart Notifications and Custom Feeds can be rolled out within a few months, significantly enhancing user experience with manageable effort. Smart Notifications would involve categorizing notifications, developing prioritization options, and quickly gathering user feedback. Custom Feeds would start with research into popular topics, developing a basic customizable interface, and refining it based on initial user feedback. For long-term goals, features such as the Smarter Connection Navigator and Deep Dive Mode will require more investment but promise substantial impact. Developing these involves advanced AI integration and detailed user testing, taking more time to fully implement and optimize.

Next Steps & Impact

Professionals frustrated with LinkedIn would find these improvements useful. Creating a “Focus Hub” could greatly improve user satisfaction, increase meaningful interactions, and boost LinkedIn Premium subscriptions.

Final Thoughts

Exploring these ideas made me see LinkedIn’s potential. It could become a truly valuable professional tool, helping users learn, connect deeply, and advance their careers in meaningful ways.

Imagine LinkedIn as a platform where every interaction feels purposeful and valuable — no more endless scrolling, just focused engagement.

Thank you for reading — I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback!❤