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LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

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31–40 of 98 posts

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#31
post #17

I have a LinkedIn profile because I was led, back in the day, to think that was the best way to put myself out there for businesses to find and hire me. I don't think I've gotten more than 50 views in the entire time I've had the thing, which is blown away by my personal website (which is still a tiny number of views, but swamps LinkedIn). That and every time I connect with someone or make the mistake of clicking on…

I live in the US. I get connection requests from Nigerian princesses and London bankers. Not sure which set of people would be more fun to hang out with on a Saturday afternoon.

This is really fascinating to me. Since they are fraudulent anyway, why wouldn't they just say they are a recruiter from Google and get you to accept their connection request. Do they get more responses by claiming they are Nigerian Princesses?

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#32
post #9

I have a LinkedIn profile because I was led, back in the day, to think that was the best way to put myself out there for businesses to find and hire me. I don't think I've gotten more than 50 views in the entire time I've had the thing, which is blown away by my personal website (which is still a tiny number of views, but swamps LinkedIn). That and every time I connect with someone or make the mistake of clicking on…

On the flip side, I get a ton of views of my profile. I indiscriminately accept recruiter requests, because it increases the spread of second and third-degree connections who'll see me in searches. I get two orders of magnitude more profile views than does my website, and I've turned off every email LinkedIn wants to send me. But, then, I'm a consultant, and having people find me is important. A lot of the messages I…

I agree. I'm also a consultant and my biggest disappointment is how LinkedIn is aligned almost exclusively with full-time employment. It's really a waste of my money as I get all my gigs via real-world connections from previous clients. I've been wishing for years that LinkedIn would add more consulting-specific features (this is the era of the "gig economy" after all, right?) but it doesn't happen. I only maintain a profile because in the U.S. not having one means you don't exist (to too many people anyway).

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#33
"LinkedIn is not, in fact, a business network — individuals on LinkedIn represent themselves, not their businesses."

Accordingly, business attire is not, in fact, business attire, since people are dressed up as people not as businesses.

What a waste of bandwidth...

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#34

Personally, I've used LinkedIn for recruiting tech talent, being recruited and most recently, doing biz dev (aka sales). Stray observations: 1. LinkedIn has too many products like sales navigator that attempt to force you through a specific workflow. While it can work, it feels a lot like a misguided tracking system. 2. LinkedIn is most useful as an online resume. Whenever I am meeting someone new or want a refresher…

As for point 6: I only connect with people I know. Every once in a while I get a connection request from some random person , but I always say no if I don't know them (even if we are in the same industry). I think the whole value of connections is diluted otherwise. A connection doesn't mean anything. So that's what I see as the disadvantage of adding as many contacts as possible.

Connections don't mean anything except for raising your own profile and improving your position in search results. I have 939 contacts on LinkedIn right now and my experience has not changed from when I had 50.

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#35
I really like how every negative thing is rationalized away until shit hits the fan and then every negative thing becomes a reality because all of a sudden it gets reported. LinkedIn is still the same shitty service it was before. Move along. Nothing to see here. It's just before it was overvalued and overhyped.

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#36
post #6

LinkedIn's job search interface is pretty bad for tech employees. There's so many better options out there. But there's nothing better for getting quality recruiters to notice you than LinkedIn.

There are any number of other services for tech employees. Interviewing.io and triplebyte being excellent alternatives.

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#37

Personally, I've used LinkedIn for recruiting tech talent, being recruited and most recently, doing biz dev (aka sales). Stray observations: 1. LinkedIn has too many products like sales navigator that attempt to force you through a specific workflow. While it can work, it feels a lot like a misguided tracking system. 2. LinkedIn is most useful as an online resume. Whenever I am meeting someone new or want a refresher…

#4 already kind of exists. You can annotate every contact on LinkedIn with how you met, and all sorts of other context.

I agree with your overall point that they need to focus their product and drive it forward more than they've done in the past. I have some friends there and from what it sounds like, that's exactly what they're doing.

Re-vamping Groups, re-vamping mobile, cutting out dark patterns (e.g. they've reduced email volume almost 60% I believe through a regulation mechanism that they call Air Traffic Controller).

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#38

I'm not so bearish on LinkedIn. It serves a few useful purposes: 1 - Before any meeting I look to see if there's something I share in common (person, interest, job, etc) with the other person. This was especially important when I was in Sales. 2 - When I was job hunting, I did a lot of "Look up the job, then see if I knew someone who knew someone at the company" that would've been impossible without it. 3 - I use it…

You are not so bearish as a user, are you planing to invest though even at current valuation?

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#40
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in the US. I get connection requests from Nigerian princesses and London bankers. Not sure which set of people would be more fun to hang out with on a Saturday afternoon.

This is really fascinating to me. Since they are fraudulent anyway, why wouldn't they just say they are a recruiter from Google and get you to accept their connection request. Do they get more responses by claiming they are Nigerian Princesses?

No, they get less, but they are all qualified leads!

There was a study (sorry I can't find the link) few months ago that discussed how spam looks bad intentionally. The idea is to weed out the smart or even average guy and just get the person that are a good target for this kind of con.

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