LinkedIn is shutting down it's handy Sales Navigator Gmail extension
This could be a blow for social media marketers.
No doubt if you've logged onto Gmail on desktop recently, some of you would have seen this notification at the right of screen.
That's right, LinkedIn is shutting down its handy Sales Navigator for Gmail extension, which provides LinkedIn bio info for anyone who gets in contact with you (and has used the same email address for their LinkedIn profile).
The extension, which was originally called 'Rapportive', has been a staple of many social media markers' toolkits for years, giving you a quick glimpse of who each email contact is, while also confirming if they're legit, based on their LinkedIn profile.
As you can see here, even without a full subscription to Sales Navigator, you can still access some basic qualifiers for each contact.
But now, LinkedIn says the tool is simply not seeing significant use.
The company provided this statement to SMT:
"We continuously work with our customers and partners to focus on building and supporting the features that best help them build and maintain relationships with their buyers. As a result of low adoption, we have decided to sunset the Sales Navigator for Gmail feature on March 18, 2020.”
LinkedIn has provided more information on alternatives, what happens next, etc. here.
Also, you'll still be able to access the same information in Outlook, which is owned by LinkedIn's parent company Microsoft.
Maybe that's a motivator for the change - if you want LinkedIn data, use Microsoft tools instead.
Either way, that LinkedIn sidebar in your Gmail account is about to go bye-bye. It may not be a huge blow, but a relevant change all the same.
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