Professional network LinkedIn has just introduced the beta launch of a new feature LinkedIn Skills, a way for you to search for particular skills and expertise, and of course, showcase your own and in LinkedIn’s words, “a whole new way to understand the landscape of skills & expertise, who has them, and how it’s changing over time.”
The new feature lets you search for particular areas of expertise and points to you to some of the key people within that community. It also highlights related companies and jobs, professional organizations you can join, and top locations where that skill is in demand.
All of that is great for making and building professional networks. But more interesting, perhaps, particularly for business analysis, LinkedIn Skills also tracks the demand for these skills and records how it is changing. You can compare the growth of one particular skill next to another – the increasing demand for those who work with Hadoop, for example, and the decreasing call those skilled in ballet.
The new feature is just one of a number of additions that LinkedIn has made that showcase its use of big data.
