Regular social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are full of users, and it’s no wonder why we usually see a high number of spam messages in such places. years ago, it was one of the advantages of linkedinmessaging facility, where we used to receive only legal notices. But it is now 2022, and things have changed a lot recently. Marketers and scammers took over, so our formerly clean inboxes turned into dumping grounds for unnecessary messages. Microsoft is looking to address this through new features being rolled out globally, such as the ‘Focused Inbox’ section.
LinkedIn used to be considered a haven for professionals looking for a new job offer or hoping to expand their network. However, the desperation of scammers and marketers to broaden their reach thanks to the public’s online presence allowed them to reach the niche. With this, it is possible to receive irrelevant messages in your inbox even without frequent interactions on the LinkedIn platform. Thankfully, months ago LinkedIn began testing its Focused Inbox. Now, it is rolling out to users across the globe.
The main idea of the feature is to help LinkedIn users get quick access to the most important messages in their inbox instead of a jumble of information all in one place. Initially, on LinkedIn for web you will be asked if you want to convert your Classic Inbox to a Focus Inbox. Doing so will split your inbox into two sections: one for focused and one for ‘other’ messages. I’ve already tested this feature, which is a huge help in de-cluttering my inbox. Upon activating the feature, unnecessary ads automatically moved to another section, while the ads I interacted with remained in focus. Focused Inbox uses AI algorithms and will include “the most relevant new opportunities and outreach”, as stated techcrunch,
The details and how the algorithm works are fairly obscure, so it’s no surprise that it still has some flaws. For example, after days of using it, some of the new messages I received from contacts I added were placed in the Other section. This got me wondering whether the feature’s AI is truly following the most-relevant-new-opportunities-and-outreach concept outlined by LinkedIn. If it does, it may need some tweaks to help Microsoft focus more on the target that drives it: actual unimportant spam messages and ads.
However, this raises another question. How does its AI define the “most relevant” messages for you? Being a part of the LinkedIn community means you will constantly get offers and opportunities, but scammers and marketers are getting smarter and smarter these days. With this, it begs the big question of how LinkedIn’s AI defines the line between a legitimate and a scammy ‘opportunity’. This flaw detracts from the perfection that LinkedIn is striving for, but in general, Focused Inbox is heaven-sent, especially for people like me who often deal with tons of messages in their inbox.
On the other hand, separating important and unimportant messages isn’t the only problem LinkedIn seeks to solve. Harassment can also be experienced in private messaging, so LinkedIn said it is now rolling out an automated harassment detection globally, in which those deemed harassment and spam by the system will be moved to spam folders. . Interestingly, this feature is a bit mild as it is considered to be spam or harassment to some extent. In addition, some suspicious spam and harassment messages may still arrive in your inbox, although you will be warned about them. Users will also have a new “Report an inappropriate message” action option to make it easier to report abusive messages.
In related news, LinkedIn also recently rolled out its schedule post Speciality While users pointed out that it is already available on the website and the Android app version of LinkedIn, others noted that it is not yet available on company Pages.