Is LinkedIn Becoming (Too Much) Like Facebook?

According to LinkedIn, their mission is simple: "connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful. When you join LinkedIn, you get access to people, jobs, news, updates, and insights that help you be great at what you do".

With the recent changes on their homepage (see below), it seems that the world's largest professional network is becoming a social network (such as Facebook or Google+) or, at least, a "professocial" network, something like a professional network but with all the same features and characteristics that you expect to find in a social network.

As we all noticed, LinkedIn recently added the ability for users to share your videos, images, documents, photos, presentations, etc. from the LinkedIn Profile Page and for some users, also from the Homepage. These new features have been added to the existing options to share status messages, links, or to mention someone or type a name on the Home News Stories Page.

We also have new icons on the top right corner. 

I don't know what you think about it but it seems really familiar to the (old) Facebook Homepage (see picture). The envelope for the messages, the icon for the new friend request and a very small picture of your profile picture page. The only "new" (you already know this flag on Youtube as an option for reporting an inappropriate video) is a flag for notifications (a concept already used by Facebook and Google+). Using a concept like "LinkedIfication" is perhaps not really professional (as the Giant wants to be seen) but at least it's unique and different. Moreover, just like Facebook, the search bar, a white rectangle, appears at the top of the page.

You might think, these are just new icons and features, nothing more. But on the other side, improving and promotions habits (messages, sharing status, etc) that we have on other social networks may change the Giant Professional network into a "Professocial" network and in the near future a social network very different from its original mission. 

With all these new "ideas", LinkedIn had the possibility to create a unique, special and particular design (such as the new Google+ homepage and profile page for instance). On the contrary, I almost have the impression that I am on Facebook. Although it seems totally unlikely (not to say impossible) that Jeff Weiner and Mark Zuckerberg are secretly collaborating on a big new platform ... I think we could have expected something a bit different. But perhaps I am too demanding...

What do you think about the new homepage design? Do you like it? Do you think that LinkedIn is too much transforming its professional platform into a social network?