LinkedIn Groups get a fresh new look

LinkedIn is continuing its design overhaul as it moves through each of the professional social network products. Today, the company has launched a redone LinkedIn Groups, giving it a major redesign with a “beautiful new look and feel”. The new Groups product should offer a bit more interactivity for members and appears to be more inviting than the rather stale version that was on the site before.

Did you know that there are more than 2 million Groups on LinkedIn? How many of them are active is unknown, but in order to encourage more usage, the company needs to find a way to make it more appealing. With this new design, long gone is the ticker of the latest promotional-style updates from members. But in its place are several new features to help users connect with others with the same interest.

Here’s what the new design looks like:

LinkedIn Groups now enables administrators to include a creative banner in an effort to add some personalization and flare to the group. What’s more, it has moved its top influencers module to the top of the page, highlighting those that have been active and probably received numerous Likes and replies to their comments. It no longer has a bar graph look at shows who’s “leading” in the race to be top influencer.

Further down the page is a Subgroups section that will help members find other related groups that would complement the one they’re already a part of.

With more than 8,000 Groups created every week and more than 200 conversations happening each minute, LinkedIn needs to find ways to make it easier for people to participate in group discussions. The company says the average user joins seven groups on the social network. So hopping around from group to group trying to keep themselves up-to-date could be a difficult thing — LinkedIn needs to make it so that when you arrive, you know what’s going on and in a more efficient manner.

Redesigning LinkedIn Groups is the latest update endeavor from the 10 year old company. Already, it has spruced up its Who’s Views Your Profile page, updated company pages, and its third-party sign-in flow.

Photo credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images