LinkedIn Contradiction

[rmusick]

I found out something this weekend on LinkedIn.  I was following LinkedIn suggestion and stated adding everyone under "People you man know."  Apparently, if five or more people click that they don't know you it restricts your account, do it again they suspend your account, indefinitely.   OK now someone want to tell me what is up with that?  I thought the whole purpose of LinkedIn was networking to people you don't know.  Am I wrong?  Please enlighten me if I am.  Now, I am afraid to add another person on account they might flag me and i get my account deleted.

[yaksplat]

So, why are you adding people that claim that they don't know you?

[Dawgz Rule]

The professional networking aspect of LinkedIn is to connect to new contacts through people that you know and know you......typically through a recommendation.  If you don't know the "people you may know" you probably shouldn't be adding them or what would be the value add?

[capsule]

Interesting because the phrasing is different in French: "Les connaissez vous ?" Which mean "Do you know them?", which is "more" obvious.
Of course you shouldn't add people you never had any professional contact with.

[rmusick]

Ok,  What I am saying here is that LinkedIn doesn't make it clear.  I did some research of my own.  They don't make it clear to you in the AUP, Actually you have to go looking for it.  The other thing is people, don't know that when they Click "I don't know this person" they are penalized.  I found this:
http://thebabyboomerentrepreneur.com/1280/linkedin-invitations/

[Dawgz Rule]

Have to admit I didn't know it did that.  That aside, I don't think LinkedIn is suggesting that you should add everyone under "People you may know".    I think the suggestion is to add them if you actually know them.  The author of the article is spot on in that LinkedIn does take it seriously and takes such measures to ensure the integrity of the networking tool.  Agreed, they could make it a little clearer as to what each option truly means.

[shmokes]

I think the key word is "know". People you may know. It doesn't say, "People you should know," or, "People you should add." It says, "People you may know," and in my opinion the implication could hardly be clearer. If you "know" the person in the list, you should add them to your network. It's there as a convenience for you to connect with "people you know". Not as an invitation to send spam friend requests to strangers. I personally find it annoying when I get friend requests, whether on Facebook or LinkedIn, from people I don't know or with whom I never had any meaningful connection (like high school classmates I never talked to).

[Rando]

For myself,
I'll only link to people I've worked with or knew through work/school, and would either:
- Feel comfortable enough to ask them for information or feedback on a company or person
- Feel comfortable enough for them to do the same

[drventure]

I think the suggestion is to add them if you actually know them.

+1

Only if you're reasonably sure they know you and would respond favorably. That's the whole idea. Otherwise, you'd end up with millions of spambots "knowing" you and it wouldn't benefit anyone.

[shmokes]

. . . and it wouldn't benefit anyone.

For what it's worth, it doesn't seem to me that LinkedIn does benefit anyone, lol. I suppose I've found some marginal use for it when I'm curious where someone works. I can often find that info by googling their name and checking their LinkedIn profile. On the other hand, if people are like me (and in this respect, I think most are), their LinkedIn profile hasn't been updated in ages and is hopelessly out-of-date.

[SavannahLion]

.....with whom I never had any meaningful connection (like high school classmates I never talked to).

Strangely enough, this appears to be the bulk of my "friends" on FB. Well, that and my wifes friends. The number of people I would consider friends is marginally small and, now that I'm older and wiser, discovered they're such useless ---punks--- that I can't figure out why I bothered to send them F-requests anyways. FB's real value to me was locating tough to find relatives.

In any case, the whole friends/connections process mystifies me.  I made a comment recently offending someone so they "de-friended" me, to which I wrote how pathetic that person was and my friend count suddenly jumped. WTH?

LinkedIn seems to have limited usefullness as well, like Shmokes mentioned, quite a number of people don't keep their profiles updated. Of course, I'm one of those people so I guess I shouldn't complain.

[drventure]

For what it's worth, it doesn't seem to me that LinkedIn does benefit anyone, lol.

 

Good point. I was probably being overly generous with that comment. Can't say I've really ever benefited from LinkedIn either, though I have gotten a fair number of recruiter and HR inquiries through there (but far more through Dice).

[rmusick]

I have gotten a fair number of recruiter and HR inquiries through

You know come to think of it, when I do get hit up by recruiters, they ask for my resume and I never hear from the again!..
Maybe everyone is right LinkedIn is useless,  But you got to have hope right?

[drventure]

I suspect there's a fair number of resume trolls on LinkedIn. I noticed that same thing for a while.

I basically stopped sending resumes to people contacting me until they sent info on the position they were recruiting for and I could verify that it at least seemed legit.

[Vigo]

I won't touch Linkedin anymore. I have a fake lurker account so I can do things like validate who the person is that I am going to interview with for a position. I want to know if I am interviewing with a recruiter, dept director, or would-be direct supervisor, and maybe see if they know anyone that I know. That is about the best use for it.

I initially started a linkedin account years ago before I even heard of it. I was just recommended to do so. I didn't realize I was effectively making my resume public. Meh, that's not for me. I give people my info on my terms.

[shmokes]

I initially started a linkedin account years ago before I even heard of it.

 

[Vigo]

I initially started a linkedin account years ago before I even heard of it.

 

Well, it is pretty much effectively true.  It was when I was in college and my friend opened the site up and told me to register and the jobs would start rollin' in. I thought it was something like career builder.