Why LinkedIn Lookup

A need for a new app arose when LinkedIn discovered that every month there were about 30% of members who searched for people on LinkedIn were viewing their coworkers' profiles. This finding prompted LinkedIn to find out why. As a result, LinkedIn surveyed 814 professionals in North America. LinkedIn's findings were the following:

• Only 38% found their companies intranets effective for learning information about their coworkers.

• 58% said that if they could easily find their coworkers skill sets, they would perform better at their job. As a result, 46% of respondents indicated that they look up the supplemental information on LinkedIn.

The statistics revealed a clear need for employees to be able to search for their coworkers. Hence the development of LinkedIn Lookup.

LinkedIn Lookup Features

LinkedIn Lookup features a sophisticated search. The search allows users to look for someone by a specific trait, skill set, job title, or responsibility. Instead of just by name. This opens up the doors for internal company communication. For instance, if an in-house website designer needs to quickly find a developer to update a few things, he or she would be able to do that by looking for the skill he or she would need to be performed.

The app is also a great networking tool. It can aid a new employee in meeting new coworkers by allowing the user to learn more about the people they are working with easily. The new employee can search for interests or skills he or she may share with another coworker and use that information to network.

LinkedIn Lookup is also a one-stop shop communication hub. It allows users to contact coworkers through email, phone or chat in place. It negates the need for more than one contact list.

LinkedIn is attempting to bridge the communication gap between coworkers by easing search, networking, and contact lists. For more information on the study conducted by LinkedIn and the app see the article published by Ankit Gupta.