LinkedIn has just launched a new way of finding people on the LinkedIn network – Faceted Search.  It’s actually an enhancement of  the previously rolled out new people search platform.
Faceted Search provides you with dynamic filters generated based on your actual query results. These filters or facets that you can use to filter your LinkedIn search query are – current company, past company, location, relationship, location, industry, school, and profile languages.
You can see these filters at the left-side navigation bar of the LinkedIn search results page. These filters are labeled “refine by” and it includes a list of the most relevant facets which like we said were based on the actual results of your original query.
What makes the Faceted Search more interesting is that the filters are generated in real-time, done by the LinkedIn search algorithm by parsing matching results and then extracting the search query’s most important attributes. You can also refine, expand or stumble upon information just by simply clicking on the search options that are important to you.
Specific benefits of the LinkedIn Faceted Search feature include:
- True guided navigation through a list of filters generated dynamically for every search query
- Intuitive interface which makes it easier to refine search by 8 facets
- Improved people search result precision
- Increased efficiency in people search
- Reduced need for complex queries such as complex Boolean queries
Overall, the new feature adds to LinkedIn’s business value especially since its network is increasing in terms of membership. It’s just about time that LinkedIn makes it easier to find business contacts. After all, LinkedIn as compared to Facebook and MySpace is more useful for business networking.
Originally posted on December 15, 2009 @ 2:33 am