LinkedIn Tags are Disappearing

I am totally disappointed in LinkedIn because of an email that I just received from LinkedIn telling me they are discontinuing the tags and notes functions in LinkedIn connections.

Here is the email I got:

At LinkedIn, we’re always looking for ways to simplify and improve your experience – helping you be more productive and successful. This sometimes means removing features that aren’t heavily used by most of our members to invest in others that members tell us offer greater value.

As such, we’re removing the Notes and Tags features on the LinkedIn profile, which allowed you to add notes and tags to your connections, to help manage your professional relationships. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you, so please know that you can download this information through March 31, 2017. You’ll find instructions below.

As an active user of Notes and Tags, you will find similar functionality in LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator. To see if Sales Navigator is right for you, we are offering you a free three-month trial*, which will allow you to transfer and view your existing notes and tags. LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a product we launched a couple of years ago and is targeted at sales professionals – it lets you keep track of your existing relationships, research your network, and find new leads with tailored recommendations.

Below you’ll find instructions on how to download and transfer your data as well as information regarding your free Sales Navigator trial.

Well, I guess they aren’t going to totally get rid of them, but they are going to make you pay for them if you want to continue using them. It’s all about the money! I have been using tags to differentiate my connections for many years now. It is something that I teach in my LinkedIn workshops as a valuable searchable tool. Now, I will have to make sure I stress the importance of keywords in your profile even more.

AND on top of this, I just saw the roll-out of the new personal profile. Upon investigation, it makes more sense about how to add things, but the functionality has changed and I don’t know if it will come back. You used to be able to reorganize the sections and at this time until the roll-out is complete, you can’t do that. All this change all at the same time!!! It is one of the reasons why I love and hate social media because it is always changing. Not always for the better!