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

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

plus.google.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 187 posts

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

#141

Post by ianstormtaylor »

grey-area wrote: post #61

This obsession with collecting users (dead or alive) reminds me of Gogol's Dead Souls - companies trading in users (who may or may not exist) in order to boost their standing and taking out huge loans on the basis of their illusory popularity. Even illusory users can have some value, just like the dead serfs in Gogol's tale, and like the dead serfs, their value is not in their existence, but in being entries on a led…

Not saying that the "dead souls" trend isn't real, but I don't actually think these accounts themselves are what LinkedIn is using to boost their user numbers. The goal for the dead souls is to boost activation by getting more and more real people to create accounts. Still the same motivation, but I doubt their long-term goal is to be counting tons of fake users as users. It's sooner to find new (potentially scam-y) ways to trick people into making accounts.

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

#142

Post by halostatue »

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-...

I'm sure that Google counts me as an active G+ user (maybe twice or even three times, since I have my normal gmail account, my GAFYD, and the GAFYD for the company I work at).

I think I've re-shared three things over the last three years, commented on maybe twice that, and I'm not sure I've posted a single original post there.

I'm almost completely disconnected from whatever “community” G+ purports to offer, and at least one of the G+ profiles that I have was only created so that I could do hangouts with folks in the company (and we end up using Skype more often anyway).

So yes, it's exactly what Google did.

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

#144

Post by nkozyra »

coldtea wrote: post #86
nkozyra wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None whatsoever, the OP is making a gigantic leap based on a logical fallacy. LinkedIn claims X number of users Suggested connections by LinkedIn can be generated for users that do not even have a present LinkedIn account. Therefor, the number X must include those users.

You're using logical fallacy wrong. At best this is a logical error, not a clasifiable fallacy. But it's far more likely that it's just an error of judgement, involving no formal or informal logic at all. Namely, nobody, including OP, made the syllogism you present, with the neat "therefore, X must include" etc step. They simply thought that it's very probable that this is what LinkedIn did to inflate their numbers.

> You're using logical fallacy wrong.

Actually it's a wonderful example of affirming the consequent.

Had the initial accusation been "LinkedIn possibly using ..." this might carry some wait, but it was all presented in declaration as proof.

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

#145

Post by zwischenzug »

bambax wrote: post #19
zwischenzug wrote: post #8

What is the lie here?

It's a misrepresentation; LinkedIn lets you assume a person from your address book already has a LinkedIn account, and that you should connect with her, whereas in fact she doesn't, and your action will result in inviting her into the system. (Even more difficult to do when she's dead, although it's unclear whether LinkedIn has a way to know the living status of its real users).

I've always assumed they got it from my email account, and not from a real account. It's not a lie, they haven't even mis-represented.

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

#146

Post by pessimizer »

res0nat0r wrote: post #132
cma wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does "active" Google+ users include people who are logged in and have plus-related stuff-they-don't-care-about in their standard google header? Or people who just reciprocate circle-adds but don't engage whatsoever?

All of the complaining about ghost towns isn't going to change the fact that G+ isn't going anywhere as long as Google stays as successful as it is right now.

Did anybody suggest that G+ should go somewhere before you did?

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

#147

Post by pessimizer »

nkozyra wrote: post #85
jebus989 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any evidence LinkedIn reports all members email contacts as LinkedIn users? The g+ post just displays OP's confusion at "connect" really meaning "invite" in instances where contacts don't have a LinkedIn account.

None whatsoever, the OP is making a gigantic leap based on a logical fallacy. LinkedIn claims X number of users Suggested connections by LinkedIn can be generated for users that do not even have a present LinkedIn account. Therefor, the number X must include those users.

In this post, there is no claim that LinkedIn is claiming in any reported numbers the ghost users that it presents to people who allow it to import their contacts.

So what you have done here is called the straw man fallacy.

----

"[...]LinkedIn is misrepresenting who has an account and does this to entice such people to create one when they receive a 'would like to connect' email. In doing so, it misleads its users into thinking they are connecting with people who already use the service."

is the easily sustained claim.

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

#148

Post by pscsbs »

wyclif wrote: post #136
durga wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't buy the "x million use the google+ site regularly every month" number. The number of people who actively use g+ is miniscule. Don't believe me? Put a status message on fb and ask how many of them use g+. Or post it on linkedin or email all your contacts. Pretty much any decent product has a small number of fans. That doesn't make it "successful" by any statistical standards.

The number of people who actively use g+ is miniscule [citation needed] Weak sauce, I say. It's readily apparent that they are the #2 social network in terms of actual usage. Put a status message on fb and ask how many of them use g+ Shall I also ask MySpace users how many of them use G+? Seriously, that "ghost town" bullshit simply isn't going to fly. It's been done to death, everybody's heard it, and anybody who is…

Googlers like to think that G+ is one of the biggest social networks. The reason the reported numbers are so high is because now YouTube users have to integrate with G+ and all sorts of Google products funnel users in. These users do one thing, and never use the service again.

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

#149

Post by pscsbs »

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…

Their whole business revolves around selling your info. Their primary source of revenue is LinkedIn Recruiter. Is this a bad thing? Not in my opinion.

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

#150

Post by senthil_rajasek »

I can confirm that this happened to me as well. I deleted my Linkedin profile last year. I received a connection request. I went back to Linkedin to confirm if my account was deleted. Of course, I had no account associated with my email address. I was puzzled by this and did not know the answer until now. I am going to warn people that I know to not allow Linkedin to scan their contact list. I am definitely annoyed by this.
Post reply on HN