I really enjoyed learning about networks from Scott Weingart’s post, “Demystifying Networks”. It made me realize how common networks are in today’s digital world, and also how often they are utilized by websites we commonly visit. One of the social sites I thought about while reading was Linkedin.
Linkedin is very much a literal representation of how networks work. It’s a site that lets you connect with other professionals who are in the same career field as you or career fields that interest you. Based on the people you know, Linkedin will also provide recommendations for you to connect with individuals it thinks belong in your “social circle”, as you might say. One of my fellow classmates discussed the idea of “six degrees of separation”, which means that it means you are connected to someone in some way through 6 other people. Linkedin is a somewhat good example of that. If you don’t know someone, you’ll often see that you know someone that does.
Linkedin used to have a data visualization feature that allowed you to see how you connect with those around you. Unfortunately, it no longer supports it. Personally, I wish they still kept it because it’s a very visual representation of your professional network, and it’s represented in an interesting way.
The photo above is an example of what the feature used to be able to show you when you wanted to see what your network looked like. It would use “edges” to connect you from your name to the person you were connected with. The color of the edges determined how you knew that person. Whether it be through the “social media” field or others. This person, obviously, has a huge number of connections, which can be seen here in their networks. And though this particular individual’s networks are extremely complex, it just shows how interconnected we are.
I believe the reason Linkedin stopped this feature is because it really wasn’t a central point to their site. Weingart touches upon this subject in his article, that “networks” should not necessarily be used for everything. To him, they’re used far too often and for the wrong reasons. That’s true, and I understand this feature wasn’t ultimately Linkedin’s priority. They may have thought of it as something that looks pretty, but serves no purpose. Personally, I think it’s just a nice additional feature to have on the site, but I understand why they wouldn’t want to waste their money or time maintaining that feature for their users.
Source: Scott Weingart, “Demystifying Networks”
Linkedin.com