LinkedIn's New Look

So I log into LinkedIn today...and what do I see? A fresh new site layout! Except that it's not so fresh...and not so "new."

Why the hater-ade?

Anyone else notice how the re-design mimics (ever so slightly) the look of Facebook? You have two main white spaces on both sides of the main page view. And now because of this new increased white space on either side, you cause the user to focus on the middle where you have features like Network Updates or Company News...which in my opinion is not so different than the Newsfeed section on Facebook when users first log in. If LinkedIn introduces a Slide wiki in the near future, I'll officially lose all faith that this site is on the right track here.

But all kidding aside, there were also recent murmurs within the walls of LinkedIn's corporate digs that things were not all that great. Hmmmm...

You get where I'm going with this. I've never been a fan of following an industry leader if you can avoid it. My fear for LinkedIn is that they begin to operate in follow mode vs. trying to out-innovate their competition. This, coupled with the fact that they seem to have their own issues in-house, has me wondering where the heck LinkedIn is going to end up in the next 1-3 years: has been, cash cow for a media conglomerate, or web networking visionary?

My money isn't on the last one...