LinkedIn cleans out the clutter for new homepage

Sans Twitter, LinkedIn is rolling out a new homepage design bringing users better news, updates

If one thing can be said about the long-standing layout for LinkedIn, its that the design doesn't shy away from white space and lots of updates. As social networks continue to acquire new companies, technology and support, many have wondered when LinkedIn would undergo a redesign to promote all of the features and investments it has made -- that day is today.

LinkedIn unveiled a new homepage Monday to peel away as much of the clutter as possible and float the most relevant news right to the top of your feed.

By using a new chronological and algorithmically weighted feed process, LinkedIn is headed in the direction of Facebook and Twitter: brining more relevant information to you rather than all of the changes and pings that it was previously streaming.

The redesign will rollout to all of the platform's users over the next few weeks. 

This announcement comes after a flurry of mobile redesigns and updates that has helped categorize the actions you take take through the service more clearly.

LinkedIn product manager Caroline Gaffney explained on the company blog this week that the overhaul aims to make the professional network even more social and share business-related news.  

“We’ve revamped the entire Homepage experience with a new look and feel to make it easier to scan and find the information that matters most to you. This simpler and cleaner design makes it easier to navigate the page and quickly find the updates you’re looking for – whether that’s a news article your boss has recently shared or it’s to see who has just started a new job,” Gaffney wrote.

Its hard to tell if this redesign comes with odd timing since, in June, the company lost its API connection with Twitter.

The two social networks worked together for three years before Twitter revoked the API, because, many stated that LinkedIn was placing to strong a hold on using Twitter updates to keep people on their site and direct them back.  

Twitter posts no longer appear on LinkedIn profiles, but there are other ways to share Twitter content via LinkedIn, it is just no longer an automatic function that professionals can set up.

This redesign could help revitalize the interest that some had lost with the Twitter loss. 

The new LinkedIn design also includes:

A newer, simpler, and more modern design
The homepage experience has changed to allow the users' eyes to easily scan and find the information that matters most. I know that the first few weeks I worked in LinkedIn, I was lost in the sea of stats, extension and suggestions that it featured, and the redesign seems to sweep those concerns right out the window. 

More relevant updates up top
No more scrolling down hundreds of updates, LinkedIn is using algorithms to bring you the news and updates that are most relevant to you.

A richer, cleaner update stream
It may sound trivial, but my arch nemesis is the "see more" button on a lot of sites (yes, I mean you Pinterest). LinkedIn has taken note of the pet peeves of those like me and created a continuous stream that involves no clicking to reveal more info.  

LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) was trading at 103.12 at the time of this report, on Monday afternoon.