Grumpiness around the new LinkedIn interface is nothing new – advanced search has received the bulk of the complaints (it’s still there). However, my bugbear is with the notifications which have become crowded with useless information to the detriment of information I care about.

I don’t care about:

• Whether Joe Bloggs has just celebrated his two year work anniversary. Honestly, I dread that time of year as my inbox fills up with clone messages of ‘Congrats on the anniversary! Hope you’re doing well!’
• Ditto with birthdays! Who cares? Show me instead your brilliant guide to GDPR!

What I care about:

• Notifications of when connections I follow have created an article. That’s why I follow them!
• Activity on posts I’ve shared on my feed or in groups, whether shares, comments, or likes.

Now while the second point is still appearing in the notifications tab it’s drowned in all the useless information I don’t care about. If LinkedIn were user-friendly, it would allow you some flexibility to choose the types of notifications you want to receive.

When LinkedIn works, it’s better at engagement (for business purposes) than most networks, but that's always been in spite of itself and not thanks to its brilliant design. 

These latest changes are actively impeding rather than abetting networking. With Facebook muscling in on its turf, it may be time for LinkedIn to start worrying about what its users want, finally.