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LinkedIn is not using email contacts to find people who have an account already

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Re: LinkedIn is not using email contacts to find people who have an account already

#51

Post by tomgruner »

blumkvist wrote: post #32
weixiyen wrote: post #24

Really surprised by all the comments here. This seems like a solid business decision by LinkedIn, riding the line of what a user is willing to accept and balancing it well with the potential rewards. Look at every famous company and you'll find tactics that you don't agree with, and sometimes downright illegal (Path). If you're not willing to do desperate things, to do what is necessary for user acquisition, good luc…

I've tried to explain this line of logic previously on HN and my experience is that the majority of the people here live in their own world. Much like people who enjoy reality TV, just more technically savvy. They babble about how FB decreases audience reach or how they hide their ad targeting instead of realizing the massive opportunity that is presented to the people who are willing to put the work. They besmirch g…

Alternative in short - some people here are actually hackers

Re: LinkedIn is not using email contacts to find people who have an account already

#52

Post by tragic »

blumkvist wrote: post #39
chris_wot wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They babble about how FB decreases audience reach or how they hide their ad targeting instead of realizing the massive opportunity that is presented to the people who are willing to put the work. You criticize that response like it's a bad thing. They besmirch google for giving rapgenius preferential treatment instead of taking notes and using the precedent. You say that like it's a bad thing. They revile linkedin fo…

Fair enough... I do think it is a bad thing... for me. Not everyone is me though, not everyone has the same goals and line of thinking like me. And neither should everyone think like me. I was just pointing out to the "parent" why his resistence is futile.

Well, it's the 'don't be evil' thing. It seems to me that it's perfectly possible to not be evil - until you go from being a nimble startup to a billion dollar business with serious shareholders to impress, rather than a couple of VCs who more or less expect you to fail.

The bigger you get, the closer your girth gets to the legal line. Then - as happened with large parts of the financial system - you have to cross the line just to compete.

'Don't be evil' falls away a long time before that.

So, despite our little contretemps over Paris Hilton, I think I'm with you on this one; it's naive to expect an NYSE listed company with a market cap of $23bn not to screw every last drop of leverage out of its data, whatever the ethics of the matter.

Re: LinkedIn is not using email contacts to find people who have an account already

#53

Post by Spearchucker »

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #12

> "LinkedIn allows you to sign in to your email account and it will scan your contacts..." Hand my contacts list to a website? No thank you. When is letting a website have this a good idea, not just Linkedin, but ever ?

This question ("...but ever?") is a good one. How many people balk at sharing their contact list with LinkedIn, and yet install apps from LinkedIn and also WhatsApp, Facebook or PayPal on their phones, all of which access the contact list anyway?

Re: LinkedIn is not using email contacts to find people who have an account already

#54

Post by dspillett »

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #12

> "LinkedIn allows you to sign in to your email account and it will scan your contacts..." Hand my contacts list to a website? No thank you. When is letting a website have this a good idea, not just Linkedin, but ever ?

As well as being a stupid thing to do, it is usually also a break of the agreement between the user and their mail provider. These usually have a clause stating that you agree to never share your credentials with a 3rd party except where required to by law.

Re: LinkedIn is not using email contacts to find people who have an account already

#55

Post by pdevr »

weixiyen wrote: post #24

Really surprised by all the comments here. This seems like a solid business decision by LinkedIn, riding the line of what a user is willing to accept and balancing it well with the potential rewards. Look at every famous company and you'll find tactics that you don't agree with, and sometimes downright illegal (Path). If you're not willing to do desperate things, to do what is necessary for user acquisition, good luc…

>Look at every famous company and you'll find tactics that you don't agree with

Most people here recognize that growth hacking is necessary for a startup to grow. The users complain only when the tactics employed do not result in a better experience for them. This was not the case when AirBnB, YouTube, etc executed their growth hacking tactics.

AirBnB: Their growth hacking tactic of posting to Craigslist resulted in a better experience for their existing users. YouTube: Their subtle permission to upload and watch copyrighted videos resulted in a better experience for their existing users.

LinkedIn though, seems to be misleading their existing users. That is why you see plenty of these comments. So, it is not a case of "nerds being nerds" (paraphrased) as someone commented elsewhere in this thread.

Re: LinkedIn is not using email contacts to find people who have an account already

#56

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

Spearchucker wrote: post #53
SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #12

> "LinkedIn allows you to sign in to your email account and it will scan your contacts..." Hand my contacts list to a website? No thank you. When is letting a website have this a good idea, not just Linkedin, but ever ?

This question (" ...but ever? ") is a good one. How many people balk at sharing their contact list with LinkedIn, and yet install apps from LinkedIn and also WhatsApp, Facebook or PayPal on their phones, all of which access the contact list anyway?

ever may be hyperbole.

An email client has a good use for it. A chat app may too. In the general case, no. It's definitely something to be very wary of.

Re: LinkedIn is not using email contacts to find people who have an account already

#57

Post by crusso »

weixiyen wrote: post #24

Really surprised by all the comments here. This seems like a solid business decision by LinkedIn, riding the line of what a user is willing to accept and balancing it well with the potential rewards. Look at every famous company and you'll find tactics that you don't agree with, and sometimes downright illegal (Path). If you're not willing to do desperate things, to do what is necessary for user acquisition, good luc…

Really surprised by all the comments here. This seems like a solid business decision by LinkedIn, riding the line of what a user is willing to accept

The comments indicate that the typical HN class of user considers the line to be crossed. Does a service like linkedin really want to upset the HN segment of their user base? Up to them, naturally.

If you're not willing to do desperate things

Yeah, and when linkedin sells all our info because they're "desperate", the only people who will be surprised are fools.

Personally, I feel that if they're resorting to "desperate" measures to succeed, then they don't have a solid business model.

Re: LinkedIn is not using email contacts to find people who have an account already

#59

Post by junto »

adrianb wrote: post #11

I get this all the time on the "suggested connections" page - names and email addresses extracted from my Gmail contacts, but the name is not a link to a profile (on normal suggested connections you can click on the name to see their profiles). I could easily spot those and not request to connect but it can be confusing for non-technical people. What changed recently is that these fake profiles are also listed as hav…

I actually thought I had found a way to delete these contacts. You can go to Network -> Add Connections -> Manage Imported Connections. Then you can delete those contacts (10 at a time - WTF).

Sadly, those deleted contacts are still showing up in my "People You May Know" page.

Hence, I think it is safe to assume that LinkedIn are doing a "Facebook delete".

Re: LinkedIn is not using email contacts to find people who have an account already

#60

Post by jrockway »

antr wrote: post #2

Misrepresentation can be a very serious offence. I'd like to hear LinkedIn's argument for impersonating people who don't use the platform.

Their argument probably contains the following two phrases: "making money" and "that eighty-five page document you agreed to when you signed up."

Less cynically, all they seem to say is "ask this person to connect with you." That doesn't imply that they're using LinkedIn.

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