Will LinkedIn's Redesign Embarrass Twitter and Facebook?

LinkedIn

is about to unleash its long-awaited redesign to more than 160 million users. Will this be what the company needs to rise above its social media competitors? Or will it prove to be a mistake that tarnishes the company's impeccable image?

To most consumers, LinkedIn is a professional networking tool. But the company wants its users to log on more frequently and stay logged in for longer periods. Earlier this year, the social network unveiled

, a new hub that gathers fresh news content for a variety of topics, including computer software, Internet, online media, information technology, and marketing and advertising. LinkedIn also launched a new

after Apple

released its

. Now LinkedIn is getting ready for something even bigger: a site redesign. According to

, LinkedIn was influenced by the "visually-led redesigns" of other websites. "We are always looking for ways to make it easier for LinkedIn members to get more value out of our services by creating simpler, more relevant experiences, so we are currently testing a new design for the LinkedIn homepage with a handful of members," a LinkedIn spokesman told TechCrunch. Based on tips it has received, TechCrunch believes that the new design could be rolled out in a matter of weeks. LinkedIn's redesign starts with the menu bar, which will now appear on a darkened background. It will feature the same tabs as before, TechCrunch reports, but will remain at the top of the page when users scroll down. This will apparently allow users to create a message or click on news regardless of where they are on a particular page. Interestingly, LinkedIn is set to expand the functionality of its "people who have viewed your profile" feature. If someone has viewed a user's profile and that user is connected to the viewer, he or she may send a message to that person. If the user is not connected, LinkedIn will provide him or her with the opportunity to connect. While these may not sound like massive changes, TechCrunch believes that the company's true goal is simplification. By tweaking the social network to make it easier to use, consumers will be more likely to take full advantage of everything that LinkedIn has to offer. How will these and other, unannounced changes impact the competition? In social media, we are already seeing some results. Twitter recently stopped its tweets from automatically appearing on LinkedIn. Users can still share their tweets on LinkedIn, but the process is

. Facebook

announced that it has

with at least three jobs sites -- BranchOut, Jobvite and Work4Labs -- which could slowly transform the world's most popular social network into a full-scale job site. Monster Worldwide

is expanding its worldwide reach by

its Chinese recruitment website, ChinaHR. Of these three developments, the only one that stands to threaten LinkedIn's dominance in the job space is Facebook. But if LinkedIn becomes a better, more effective, and more efficient website that is easier to use and navigate, it could pose a serious threat to

of its competitors.