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

Post by cma » Fri, Feb 21, 2014, 4:22 PM UTC

wyclif wrote: post #108

waylandsmithers wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds a lot like Google+ at the beginning. "We have 100 million users!!!" Well no, you funneled people using search, gmail, and youtube into some annoying screen where they clicked around to make it go away.

That's not what they did. It should be noted that in the announcements that I've seen, Google has counted only active Google+ users. This is the "ghost town" ruse all over again. It's weak sauce and demonstrably facile. You can bash Google+ all you want, but it's not going to impress people who enjoy using it very much. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/19/the-loyal-users-of-...

Post by T-hawk » Fri, Feb 21, 2014, 4:31 PM UTC

mcv wrote: post #118

mpclark wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm the same -- I never allow websites to riffle through my contacts, and would certainly never give up access to my email account to do it. However, mobile apps have a much easier time of it. Looking at the contacts stored on one's phone is just one of the many permissions they request, and users are conditioned to just click past that screen anyway.

I never would either. Problem is, it's possible I may have accidentally done it in the past, possibly when I was tired and thought it was about something else. Did I? Can I undo it? No idea. Linkedin is quiet about it, and it looks like it can't be undone.

Post by hangonhn » Fri, Feb 21, 2014, 4:32 PM UTC

pdevr wrote: post #55

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…

Post by ben010783 » Fri, Feb 21, 2014, 4:52 PM UTC

reinhardt wrote: post #67

iand wrote: post #37

I've never intentionally shared my contacts with LinkedIn and yet I get shown names from my address book. One was my teenage son and I tried to connect thinking he'd signed up for some reason. Nope, he'd never even considered it. I don't know where LinkedIn got my contacts from but I suspect I must have missed a setting when I briefly installed the mobile app a few years ago. Some of the email addresses they have are…

Came here to post the same; after seeing as "people you may know" some email contacts that may not even know what LinkedIn is (such as my mom), I strongly suspect they're doing something even more shady to grab my contacts. I have never installed the mobile app.

Post by chc » Fri, Feb 21, 2014, 5:02 PM UTC

crusso wrote: post #57

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 sel…