Our freelancers want ways to communicate and collaborate with other freelancers on the platform. This feature enables top-rated freelancers to form talent networks on the platform and communicate with connections via dash messaging.
- Freelancer target user: Top-rated FLs with a high number of invites and earning in the last 12 months
- Categories: All
- Service: enable top rated freelancers to form talent networks on the platform and communicate with connections via dash messaging.
Terminology:
- A connection is the visible relationship that a freelancer has with another freelancer.
- A network is the collection of all connections that a freelancer has with other freelancers.
- Team is a concept in relation to a job. A team is formed from individuals in a network to accomplish a job. Once the job is complete, the team ceases to exist.
MVP Launch:
- December 15, 2021 - MVP Part I: Your network
- We’re building the foundation ( network + comms ) and construction of the initial supply that will enable the hiring to happen.
- Top rated talent can create a network and invite other talent
- Talent can communicate via dash messaging
- 43,543 TR freelancers
- Q1 2022: MVP Part I continued: My network+
- Build revenue generating features in 2022 by enabling multiple forms of team based work: Subcontracting, Joint proposals, Collaborations where we’ll validate client appetite and scalability opportunities.
- Network recommendations
- Add talent off platform
- Add talent from User Freelancer Search
External:
How do I remove someone from my network?
- Find their profile in your network and select the 3 dots (...) next to their name
- Choose Remove from network and confirm by choosing Remove. The person removed will not be notified
Someone added me and I don’t know them/ I don’t want to connect.
You can decline invitations by selecting the Decline button in pending requests. We won’t notify the requestor that you have declined. If you decline a request from the same account four times, they can’t send you any more requests.
Does using this feature impact my Job Success Score (JSS)?
No, this feature will not impact your JSS at all.
My profile is private. Will others be able to find me?
If your profile is set to private, any freelancer you invite to join your network will be able to follow a link to your profile, but they'll see a notification that your profile is set to private.
Users won’t be able to find a private profile when searching by the name or email address. You also won’t be suggested in location or skills-based recommendations.
Internal only:
Do people I add need to be in the same category or have the same skills I do?
No, you can connect with freelancers in any category –– it’s up to you.
Does this mean that I can forward or refer any excess work to others?
This feature exists to connect you to other freelancers. However, you can forward work to other freelancers through a different feature! When declining a job invite, you have the option to help a fellow freelancer by referring them to the job.
Can a freelancer add a client to their network?
Right now, you can only message and connect with other freelancers.
How does this compare to agencies?
This is different from agencies. An agency is typically its own business or entity. We’re encouraging freelancers to connect with each other on a project-by-project basis or for networking. Whether you choose to work together in the future is entirely up to you. Stay tuned, we’ll be releasing more tools that encourage collaboration soon.
I want to add a freelancer but I don’t know their email address or last name.
When you search for freelancers, you can use the freelancer's first name and last initial to browse a list of profile results. We plan to make it easier to find and add other freelancers in upcoming releases. Soon, you’ll be able to add freelancers that aren’t on Upwork, see recommendations of people to connect with, and more.
When you search for freelancers, you can use the freelancer's first name and last initial to browse a list of profile results.
You can also browse freelancers by location and skills in the Add to your network page.
Why would a freelancer need to connect with another freelancer about a job?
Sometimes a job is just too big to handle alone. Other times, you know someone who has expertise or skills that would pair well with yours. This feature will help you team up with freelancers you trust when the right opportunity comes along.
How do I add a freelancer from my network to a project?
Right now, the feature is in beta testing. Only connecting and messaging is available right now to those in the test group. Stay tuned, we plan to expand the feature to all and release more features that allow you to work together.
We aim to improve fill rate by enabling ways for talent to collaborate and accomplish high value complex work. In Q4 2021, we enabled freelancers to discover each other, form networks and direct message. To make Network and Teams successful in the long run, it is imperative to create a marketplace experience that makes expanding the freelancer network easy and intuitive. Primary focus of Q1, 2022 is around accelerating feature adoption by adding more ways to connect with freelancers on Upwork, as well as bringing new talent to the network off platform.
Target User Segments
- Top rated that want to share knowledge/become a mentor or potentially expand/build their business;
- FLs with little or no record at the platform who are looking for mentorship;
- FLs new to the platform with good industry skills who are looking for ways to get established at Upwork;
- Community enthusiasts;
- FLs who are looking for establishing connections with top FL in the industry;
Hypothesis
If we enable deeper networks integration in marketplace experiences like UFS and Profile FL drawer then there is an increase in connections/networks created by users because of new entry points and reduced number of steps required to connect.
Affected pages/components:
New experience:
For FL context, at both FL tiles and profile overlay, there is a CTA [icon] that enables freelancers to add each other to the network.
Button location:
Flow breakdown:
- To minimize confusion and learning curve, there is a tooltip to educate users who are new to the feature;
- Upon CTA click there is an "add to your network" pop-up;
- Once an invitation has been sent, icon state changes to pending;
- When pending icon is clicked, there is an option to withdraw invitation;
- Once accepted, freelancer is added to the network. To visually indicate freelancers who are part of Your Network - icon is changed. On click, there is an option to exclude user from the network.
- Message CTA added to both tile and FL profile overlay;