LinkedIn. Whats it do for us?

[Master Splinter]

LinkedIn is the professional networking site for people who don't have the time or personality type to network, or who feel that they are way too important to spend any time doing 'networking' in the real world, or who are so full of hot air it's a wonder they don't float to the ceiling.

Recruiters love it as they can troll profiles looking for people to send vague "we may have a job that might possibly suit your skills" emails to so they can inflate the number of people on their books, and, from what I've seen, it lets people who you'd essentially label "a waste of good oxygen" sound amazingly talented as they tend to gather recommendations from other similarly skilled people.

Rule of thumb is that the longer and more impressive sounding their profile is, the more useless they actually are.

[PDW]

I have a LinkedIn account. The only accurate item of information it contains is my email address. I don't need offers of work from strangers.

I have no problem writing email filters.

Like Bob, there are a number of ex-clients, ex-workplace associates etc that I have zero intention of ever contacting. Their life is an amazing success? Yawn. They've died of a drug overdose? Ditto. None of us with any sort of digital profile is really anonymous, but I can't see any good reason to freely donate information to the big data people. Kind of funny because I occasionally do consulting work for those same big data people.....

As to why I have a LinkedIn account at all, it was curiosity - I wanted to see what happened if I replied to a friend in Norway's request to link. What I found was that he'd allowed the damn software to scan his address book without realising he'd done so. Kind of funny really. Then I got another request to link from a big pilot I know, which I ignored - what would be the point? And on it goes.....

PDW

[bollie7]

LinkedIn is the professional networking site for people who don't have the time or personality type to network, or who feel that they are way too important to spend any time doing 'networking' in the real world, or who are so full of hot air it's a wonder they don't float to the ceiling.

Recruiters love it as they can troll profiles looking for people to send vague "we may have a job that might possibly suit your skills" emails to so they can inflate the number of people on their books, and, from what I've seen, it lets people who you'd essentially label "a waste of good oxygen" sound amazingly talented as they tend to gather recommendations from other similarly skilled people.

Rule of thumb is that the longer and more impressive sounding their profile is, the more useless they actually are.

Love it, Love it, Love it. wooo hooo.


bollie7

[fields]

Although I don't like the spamming and stupid things that go on, this is just another tool, rather like a chisel; it has benefits for some people, is misused by others and is dangerous for some.

I'm an IT contractor and work with lots of people who are moving jobs frequently. Its handy to keep track of people I know professionally in one place (I don't network with friends there). It lets me find people to fill positions (I'd rather work with people I know I can work with), to ask for recommendations from people you know have worked together and to be offered work.

Many of the people I work with don't network and don't have the social skills to keep in touch but being able to find and communicate with them is handy. I can see with different occupations and different people to connect with that its just another social media platform that may make you want to strangle people you previously thought were sane.

[BobL]

. . . I can see with different occupations and different people to connect with that its just another social media platform that may make you want to strangle people you previously thought were sane.

Yep that's my experience. My problem has been that in the past I have too easily accepted people at face value and thought they were decent/honest/reliable, then when they turn out to be scoundrels my toe cutting skills are not strong so moving on has not been that easy. As a result I inadvertently seem to have collected a raft of ratbag acquaintances, some of which continue to try and hang around me like a bad smell and SN just seem to facilitate that more than I can handle. Folks with better judgement and toe cutting skills can probably deal with this as a matter of course.

SWMBO has always been better than I have at working folks out on first impressions and I have often asked for her opinion.

[Chris Parks]

I sold my business, retired from work and I have stopped using my mobile phone and never carry it anywhere. It sits in the car on the charger and unless I am in the car when it rings it never gets answered. I like it when someone wants my contact details, I always tell them I do not have a mobile, they seem to think anyone who does not have a mobile is somewhat strange and they are most probably right but I am not giving the number to anyone. Those that need to contact me can use the land line or email, as for LinkedIn or whatever it is, in the bin they go. I seem to get a heap of them, mostly from my past business contacts I suspect. I have a new business project on the go so I guess I am going to have to rejoin the world at some point which is a pain.

[Marc]

I have a linkedin account because my brother asked me to join and he joined because his daughter asked him to join etc. There is hardly any information there, way more information on google.
It does not bother me to get an extra email every now and then that I dutifully ignore. However I happen to know someone who got a really good job as a manager of a hotel chain through linkedin.
So, I say if it bothers you, delete your account. If you want to join for whatever reason, use a secondary email account only for that. I have a separate email for e-bay for example.
As far as facebook, you can not compare one with the other. Clearly all of this inventions are there to make money, however facebook can be made as private as you can, only for your family for example, linkedin is aimed at networking and find a job. You can not do so anonymously. If you want to be anonymous, delete your linkedin account.

[AlexS]

I joined linkedin to for professional purposes when I was doing some consulting, and found it useful for a short while. I was also on two groups there. I was once contacted directly through linkedin with a suitable job offer, and it was handy for people who were considering hiring me to do a cursory check to see if I worked in the appropriate field. These days, though, I'm retired, and I get bombarded with "These people are looking for people with your skills..." messages when I know that they're not, requests to link with people I don't know or wish to know, and today I was endorsed in a skill by someone whom I don't know and who doesn't know me. One group has degenerated into nothing but advertisements, and in the other, they're arguing about how to make bullseyes out of the Elgin marbles or somesuch.

I must download myself.