On October 5th I attended "LinkedIn Webinar Series: Leveraging Linked In for Your Career Search," hosted by Steve Green and presented by the Toppel Career Center. The webinar focused on more advanced ways to use LinkedIn when looking for employment opportunities outside of the regular notion of adding connections to your network. The most useful piece of advice dealt with making sure you join the variety of professional organizations either within the field you are currently in or one in which you wish to enter. Green also touched on the importance of adding and connecting to alumni, who are the ones most likely to directly help you in your job search.

The webinar also provided basic advice along the lines of insuring that your profile had a 100% completion rating to have it look more attractive to recruiters. Green also touched on little features such as making your experience portion look presentable, along the lines in which you would present it in a resume. Since this was the second in a four part series, the suggestions were along the intermediate side, but not too deep into the inner working of LinkedIn. It was still a good presentation whether for a beginner or advanced user of the platform.

When it comes to mobile apps there are two main schools of thought: that they either simplify or complicate life. Although they can take a while to get used to, I feel that mobile apps aid in making life simpler. In a nutshell, an app just allows you to access a select number of services directly from your phones main screen. It may not be cutting out a lot of steps in terms of connecting to the service, but it does weed out a lot of the "fat" that comes with having to search through a web page to find exactly what you are looking for. The apps are either pre-built with the most used services already accessible, or allow you to add and decide on which features you need the most.

The only way I seem mobile apps becoming complications is for those who rely too much on them. The people who keep their entire lives on their phones and the minute something crashes, it's the end. Mobile apps should be used to simply life, not to replace what is already being used. People need to realize that mobile apps are meant for what they say: to be used mobile. There should be no over-reliance or prompted complications brought about by thinking your iPhone is the only tool you'll need to manage your life.

Sometimes it is just as important for a product to have good design than it is to be functional. Google has learned this lesson recently with a slew of user backlash from redesigning many of its popular services. The first one, GMail, receives a fair bit of grumbles about the new look, but overall discontent was kept at a minimum. The floodgates opened this week with the new version of Google Reader.

Google Reader became a hot topic due to its random design, along the same lines as GMail. The backlash has been almost ten times the amount that GMail has received, although both pretty much look the same. The strange part is, none of the backlash has to do with functionality. Google Reader functions the exact same as before, with the same buttons and organization, just a different design.

This is a perfect example of how much users become attached to the way companies brand their products. Almost along the same lines as Gap, who randomly decided to change their logo and received a mountain of backlash, every complaint is on a truly aesthetic basis. No matter how well your product functions, you can't just through redesigns out to your target public. Users become attached, and thus don't feel comfortable when the environment they have known for years is suddenly changed.

Ulanoff, L. (2011). Mashable. Google Interface Designs: Welcome to Dullsville. Link.