The New LinkedIn

Subtitle: "AJAX Gone Wild!" or "In Your Facebook Business People!"

LinkedIn, the social networking site for business people, just had a face lift. More like a face transplant. The whole interface has been redone in this jazzy AJAX manner. It now has movable modules, drop down or expanding menus galore, and pop-up boxes all over the place. Wow! So cool. Sooooooo cooolllllll dude!

And it stinks. What had once been a nice clean interface is now cluttered and busy. It hurts to look at it. What once looked professional now looks like something a high school kid would like. The previous interface was something you could have up on your computer at work and the boss would think "Ah! He's doing something constructive. Good man that Petrocelli." The new one looks like you're screwing around.

I have special disdain for the microblogging "Tom is..." feature. I predictably put up something dull and boring about work. This seems appropriate since the whole idea behind LinkedIn is about professional life. Do my business contacts really care that I had a Fish Fry for lunch? I doubt it.

So note to the LinkedIn people: Boo! I despise the MySpacing of your site. If you add videos, I'm leaving. And the cute icons? They make me puke. I don't deny that you needed new clothes. The site was getting tired looking. But you didn't need to dress it up like a streetwalker. Next time you want to change the interface get someone with the sensibilities of a CEO, not a college kid, to advise you.