5 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do on LinkedIn

1. Search for Events

LinkedIn offers a robust "Events" section.

While the site automatically suggests events that might be of interest to you, it also allows you to search listings by keyword.

To access the events section, click the "More" option on the top navigation menu on your LinkedIn profile and select "Events."

From here, you can browse all the public event listings or narrow down results by location and industry type.

If you do carry out a keyword search, you'll have the option to sort results by date or relevance.

2. Add an Application

Did you know about the third-party applications available on LinkedIn?

While the selection is not huge, there are some really useful widgets you can add to your profile.
Highlights include the Box.net Files application, which lets you share content on your profile and collaborate with friends and colleagues. You can also share the books you're reading with Reading List by Amazon.

SixApart's Blog Link lets you connect your blog to your LinkedIn profile. Behance offers an app that showcases your creative work, and TripIt's My Travel means you can share info about business trips.

To view all the applications available, click on the "More" option on your navigation menu and select "Get More Applications."

3. Customize Your News Feed With LinkedIn Today

While LinkedIn is great for career-related news, the site is now also a great resource for business and industry news.

The "LinkedIn Today" feature lets you customize a news feed totally tailored to your professional interests and network.

To set up your LinkedIn Today page, click on "News" on the top navigation bar and select "LinkedIn Today." Now if you click on the cog icon to the top-right of the page, you can customize what you see.

You can "follow" industries to see news relevant to certain areas and follow sources (such as Mashable) to see their content in your news stream.

Once you've set up your page with personal preferences, log into LinkedIn to catch up or get sent a daily or weekly email digest.

4. Join a Group

LinkedIn has thousands of groups that you can join and get involved with for some targeted, work-related social networking.

To get started with LinkedIn Groups, hit the "Groups" option on the top menu.
Now you can see groups that your contacts belong to as well as groups that LinkedIn's algorithms think you might be interested in. Or search by keyword.

The results for searches will show how active a group is, so you can be sure to join a group that's current.

With over 1 million English language groups alone, we're sure you'll find at least one relevant to you, no matter how niche your area of expertise or interests. If not, you can always create a new group.

5. Experiment With LinkedIn Labs

Finally, have fun with LinkedIn's experimental "Labs" section.

Whether you want to see a visualization of the most-searched companies on LinkedIn, see your own network in a more creative way, view your LinkedIn connections on a timeline, or search
LinkedIn via text message, there is a widget to do it.