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LinkedIn is a Virus

a.wholelottanothing.org

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Re: LinkedIn is a Virus

#91

Post by skeletonjelly »

chintan wrote: post #59

Here is an example of another LinkedIn Virus (or may Crunchbase-linkedin virus), that I experienced the other day and got really pissed. 1. Go to this page: http://www.crunchbase.com/company/facebook 2. Click on the "In" Widget 3. It says X connections work at Facebook. with "X connections" hyperlinked. There is another link below that says "Follow Facebook" 4. Now you'd think that clicking on "X connections" will sh…

Which part of the page is the widget on? I stopped my tracking blockers but I can't see it.

Re: LinkedIn is a Virus

#92

Post by leethax0r »

fghh45sdfhr3 wrote: post #15

All of social networking is a virus. They all rely on viral growth, viral "features" are often pushed despite no one liking them (see everything Facebook ever did). And most disturbingly if they succeed in growing big enough (Facebook again) then not having one can become a bit of problem in real life. Of course LinkedIn is a virus. It's what works.

App.Net isn't like that.

Re: LinkedIn is a Virus

#93

Post by dkasper »

leethax0r wrote: post #92
fghh45sdfhr3 wrote: post #15

All of social networking is a virus. They all rely on viral growth, viral "features" are often pushed despite no one liking them (see everything Facebook ever did). And most disturbingly if they succeed in growing big enough (Facebook again) then not having one can become a bit of problem in real life. Of course LinkedIn is a virus. It's what works.

App.Net isn't like that.

Sort of. One the one hand theoretically enough people will pay for it to keep it running so they don't need to resort to spammy tactics to acquire users at all costs. On the other hand they are 100% in the business of acquiring more users as proved by the addition of free accounts. The invite process for getting new people into free accounts is pretty darn viral and the number of people using App.net has increased by over 75% in the past 3 weeks.

Re: LinkedIn is a Virus

#94

Post by pootch »

If you have to be "careful" with a service then this is clearly a "dark pattern". Its intended to decieve you as to the result to benefit linkedin.

Linked in is simply not worth a damn and must go away. Its one of the bigger spam engines I have ever encountered, its shameless, pointless, and dare I say pitiful socialization of business connections.

Myspace for realtors? More like PlentyOfFish for people with ugly resumes.

Re: LinkedIn is a Virus

#95

Post by laureny »

qdog wrote: post #29

Rule 1: Make sure your linkedin password is not the same as your gmail password. I've tried to login to linkedin a couple of times in too much of a hurry, thinking I was logging into linkedin from some request and not reading the actual page. Luckily my passwords are different. I'd have to say I'm not sure how someone who is tech savvy can knowingly give a company their gmail account info and expect nothing bad to ha…

> Rule 1: Make sure your linkedin password is not the same as your gmail password.

Rule 0: Your email password should be unique and not used anywhere else.

Re: LinkedIn is a Virus

#96

Post by seanp2k2 »

jff wrote: post #86
thesteamboat wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to detract from your point, just nitpicking for a moment. The word you're for at the end is voilà, of French origin.

Points for originality with "vuala", though. Usually it's just "viola" or "wallah"

"vuala" is actually pretty phonetic-esque without all those weird characters.

Also, I had to re-read it about 4 times before I stopped seeing "vulva" :)

Re: LinkedIn is a Virus

#97

Post by yen223 »

leethax0r wrote: post #92
fghh45sdfhr3 wrote: post #15

All of social networking is a virus. They all rely on viral growth, viral "features" are often pushed despite no one liking them (see everything Facebook ever did). And most disturbingly if they succeed in growing big enough (Facebook again) then not having one can become a bit of problem in real life. Of course LinkedIn is a virus. It's what works.

App.Net isn't like that.

Of course it is, there's a reason why they started giving out free invites.

Re: LinkedIn is a Virus

#98

Post by ryanmolden »

uptown wrote: post #84
EvanKelly wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll connect with someone in my field and location, because those are the connections I hope to foster with LinkedIn. One of the weirder things I've experience is people "endorsing" my skills. Many of which are skills they've certainly never seen me use. I assume they were doing it for some sort of reciprocal endorsement, but I don't want my name attached to someone's skills that I know nothing about.

My mortgage broker endorsed my jQuery skills. While they are excellent - I doubt she knows what jQuery is.

Yes, I accepted a request from someone today (first time being there in quite some time) and it immediately suggested I endorse him for a slew of skills. I presume some people just click the button, thus I largely ignore it, I assumed other techies did as well (I.e. Put no faith in someone's endorsements).

Re: LinkedIn is a Virus

#99

Post by peteretep »

jpdoctor wrote: post #11

My version: I was on the iPad, somehow hit a link to send invites to everyone on my "you might know" list. Much embarassment ensued. Surprisingly, about 75% of people who I've never met (online or IRL) accepted the invite. I'm not exactly sure why Linkedin is worth a damn anymore.

It's exceptionally useful for getting a quick background on people I've spoken to (or will speak to) in a commercial context

Re: LinkedIn is a Virus

#100

Post by cookiecaper »

qdog wrote: post #49
shadesandcolour wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of those websites scan your address book and show you people that are already on the site and then ask you to send emails to people who aren't. It's reasonable to not know that 11,000 people would be on linked in. Also Linkedin isn't exactly a website that he "wasn't sure about". Everyone knows what the site is and does. Also your Rule 1 is kinda silly. I guess as long as I keep the passwords to those to sites…

No, you won't be safe, but you won't accidentally log into your gmail account from Linkedin. This is specifically about Linkedin, because it's asking for your gmail credentials and if in a hurry, as I often am and don't go to linkedin that often, I mistakenly enter my linkedin password thinking it's telling me I am not logged in. I agree that letting linkedin in scan your 11,000 contacts is going to be faster, but se…

I think some people see it as a measure of their value as a professional. If you have 500+ connections, then you've obviously been around and know everyone. This impression can increase your commercial value when you're looking for executive or sales positions. Business is fundamentally social, and if you can leverage a large network in favor of your employer, you become much more valuable than a smooth talker with no connections.

It does kind of ruin the "introduce me" featureset when everyone you contact is going to say "Actually, err, I can't introduce you guys because I don't actually know him", though.

LinkedIn should mitigate this by minimizing or not even displaying the "number of connections" on profiles and emphasizing other value measurements that don't cause misaligned incentives.

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