LinkedIn has revealed a number of changes for the business social network, with the biggest change coming from a new education platform to help people acquire new skills.

Other changes include a redesign of the desktop interface, a new search function, and a revamped newsfeed.

Skills Learning

The LinkedIn Learning site contains content from the education site Lynda.com, which it acquired for $1.5 billion last year. It offers users more than 9,000 digital courses covering a range of business, creative and technical topics that can be taken anytime, anywhere.

The idea is that skills are currently one of the biggest issues facing workers nowadays. Skills can have a short shelf life, and people often have to acquire new skills during their career.

“Today, we are thrilled to announce the launch of LinkedIn Learning, an online learning platform enabling individuals and organisations to achieve their objectives and aspirations. Our goal is to help people discover and develop the skills they need through a personalised, data-driven learning experience,” blogged LinkedIn’s Ryan Roslansky.

“We know the useful shelf life of professional skills has shrunk to less than five years,” he wrote. “There is a critical need to help people acquire new skills through a highly personalised, data-driven and engaging learning experience.”

LinkedIn Learning is apparently built on three core pillars, namely the digital content itself (thanks to a library of over 9,000 digital courses); data-driven personalisation (it creates personalised skills recommendations); and the convenience of being able to learning skills ‘anytime, anywhere’ on any device.

Other Changes

But learning new skills is not the only change LinkedIn has made. It has also redesigned the desktop interface, which is the largest redesign since the company’s inception.

LinkedIn said the site offers a “new look and feel for the desktop offers a cleaner, simple and more intuitive way for members to quickly access the jobs, information and insights they need”. This redesign is modelled on the mobile app interface and will rolled out shortly.

LinkedIn has also evolved its content ecosystem with the addition of a “new search function, videos from influencers and a brand new long-form writing experience.”

It is also offering users the ability to message a connection wherever they are navigating on the site.