Finked In

[supergee]

Two people I like personally and one I once contacted in my copy-editing role have apparently nagged me to join them in LinkedIn, even though I had already politely declined that offer. No means no, guys. But of course I know that this apparently pushy behavior is not something they are doing but an undocumented feature of allowing LinkedIn access to their mailing lists. Corporations are people, my friend, and LinkedIn is at least a socially offensive one if not as sociopathic as many.

Comments

[arlie]

I regret the way LinkedIn has been killing the goose that laid the golden eggs. At one point, it produced quality.

Now it's trying so hard to be Facebook, and just producing spam. People who've never worked with me endorse me for skills they don't have the background to understand, let alone judge; therefore I have to assume that all endorsements are meaningless. It presumes I'm somehow far more interested in the opinions of people I once worked with (plus random headhunters) than others, and worse yet that I'm happy to find comments I make on articles shared only with that limited set of people. And it spams. A lot. Sometimes it spams me to connect with people I'm already connected to.

Worst of all though are the resulting recruiter behaviors. LinkedIn used to be a source of high quality potential positions. Now it's got all the usual bottom feeders - people who don't comprehend the buzz words of the field they recruit for; people who don't read the LinkedIn profiles that trigger their emails (I have a pretty complete resume on LinkedIn; don't lead off with a request for a resume); people who presume that someone who moved 2 months ago will welcome attempts to get them to move immediately; etc.

They've taken a site that used to be a good way to keep track of professional contacts, and turned it into a way to make a fool of yourself in your professional identity, while swimming in spammage.

And FWIW, either the rate of lying to potential recruits is way up, or I've become more sensitized to it. This might be just part of modern American business ethics. Or it might be me moving into startup land. But it makes me mad. "xxxx is looking for your clone" would be a lovely email to get - except I got it twice. That isn't a response from someone who thinks I'm a particularly good match; it's a form letter. Personal emails from the CEO of a startup, leaving one thinking there's some kind of personal connection - are a recruiting technique for those who ignore the headhunter emails. etc. etc. And of course random recruiters try to connect, claiming (to LinkedIn) to be personal friends.