Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 98 posts

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#71

Post by tomtang0514 »

alain94040 wrote: post #43
ydt wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you in principle and in the past only accepted connection requests from people I know as well. However, I think LinkedIn's promise as professional social network has really diminished over the years and mostly functions as nothing more than a job board at this point. I probably have about 100 recruiters I have never met in person in my network. As a contract dev updating my profile serves as a way to pus…

It's your choice to add 100 random recruiters to your network. But then, don't complain that you are being spammed by recruiters.

Me too keep getting spammed by recruiters. And the handful number of recruiters I'm connected actually don't bother spamming me LOL

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#72

Post by GCA10 »

antiviral wrote: post #42
martinshen wrote: post #16

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…

LinkedIn has been focusing on too many far-flung 'features' without a plan for tying them together into a seamless experience. The current cluttered site is the outcome of such disjointed thinking. They want people to come to the site and 'engage,' but then they also encourage alot of low-quality content on the site, along with sprinkles of irrelevant ads on top. At the end of the day, the CEO is responsible for this…

It struck me a couple years ago as a castle with 100 rooms and no hallways. It's a bit better now, but navigation still can get very tangled.

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#73

Post by GCA10 »

autoreleasepool wrote: post #63

LinkedIn is a great example of how your platform can be useful to people in spite of a horrible UI, bad infrastructure, and grossly inconsistent user experience. I swear the amount of times I wasn't sure if I actually accepted or sent a connection request is way too high. The endorsements are begging to be rigged, and the website is absolutely dismal in terms of social functionality - it pales in comparison to almost…

I think endorsements are actually a non-product -- sort of like the "close doors" button on the elevator.

My sense is that LinkedIn doesn't use endorsements in any other dimension of the site. It's just an engagement tool, so that people are on the site longer. That way they see more ads -- and are perhaps more likely to tweak their profiles.

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#74

Post by r00fus »

alain94040 wrote: post #43
ydt wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you in principle and in the past only accepted connection requests from people I know as well. However, I think LinkedIn's promise as professional social network has really diminished over the years and mostly functions as nothing more than a job board at this point. I probably have about 100 recruiters I have never met in person in my network. As a contract dev updating my profile serves as a way to pus…

It's your choice to add 100 random recruiters to your network. But then, don't complain that you are being spammed by recruiters.

I've "unfriended" recruiters I've mistakenly added in the past.

However, if you're looking for talent, it is helpful to have such "connectors" in your network - without those recruiters, when I was doing a check on my network I didn't see some of the people I was trying to hire - this was only the case when I had switched jobs/domains.

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#75

Post by HEYGRANDMA »

programminggeek wrote: post #57

Well, I keep hearing people say things like "I hate LinkedIn" or "LinkedIn is so annoying" randomly at work or in business travel. It's a small data point, but it seems that perhaps there is a negative sentiment growing around LinkedIn.

This article actually prompted me to finally get around to deleting my LinkedIn account

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#76

Post by jxramos »

ucaetano wrote: post #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...

I agree, the author confuses "business to business" with "business related" or perhaps more specifically "not a personal/recreational network".

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#77

Post by jxramos »

henrik_w wrote: post #22

FWIW, I still get value from LinkedIn. The best parts for me: - one place for contact information - job offers (most of the ones I receive are relevant) - being able to "check people out", i.e. see where they have worked before, common contacts etc I'm in Sweden (if that's relevant). I wrote more about it here: http://henrikwarne.com/2013/08/21/linkedin-good-or-bad/

I concur, most of the job offers I get are relevant and some of the big companies' internal recruiters contact me via LinkedIn: Google, Facebook, Amazon. It may not be perfect but it's far from useless. My impression is that it allows skilled recruiters to make solid connections and lookups. Poor recruiters will always be poor matchers and spam folks.

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#78

Post by dennisgorelik »

henrik_w wrote: post #25
martinshen wrote: post #16

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.

Large list of contacts in your industry allows you to quickly vet new contact or prove to new contacts that you are not a newbie in your industry.

That's how connections who you do not personally know - help.

Re: LinkedIn Problems Run Deeper Than Valuation

#80

Post by waylandsmithers »

martinshen wrote: post #16

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…

I'm pretty sure (3) is a generational thing. I and plenty of 20-somethings I know won't answer their phone if they don't recognize the number, yet my parents get up and run for the phone when their landline rings during dinner time. When someone unknown tries to reach you their default mindset is "But what if it's an emergency?" and ours is "It's probably spam"
Post reply on HN