Am I the only one who hates LinkedIn?

[McGiord]

It's not LinkedIn what you hate, but the people who is trying to connect with you, your business, your contacts, your network, maybe what you hate is networking.
Networking is useful for different purposes, and not for every one.
Those who were unemployed for a good amount of time or with an urgent need to get a paycheck do understand the value of networking and landing a job interview, or a good connection.
Same applies for those who work in sales.

 

[RChecker]

Dupes people into giving access to their email accounts

LinkedIn has value, but they also have scummy ethics. They routinely and repetitively try to sneakily persuade you to allow them access to your entire contact list. Whereupon every last person you've ever corresponded with gets an invite in your name.

Indeed. I would actually use the term "dupe" to describe the form you get at login, asking you to enter the password for your email, which many less technically savvy people fall for.
I myself got invites from some odd people which were clearly not intentional.
Completely shameless in trying to build up their network by any means.

 

[McGiord]

Indeed. I would actually use the term "dupe" to describe the form you get at login, asking you to enter the password for your email, which many less technically savvy people fall for.
I myself got invites from some odd people which were clearly not intentional.
Completely shameless in trying to build up their network by any means.

I never give LinkedIn access to my contacts in my address book or to scan it. Maybe because of it I never had any issues as you describe them. Most of the people I don't know and trying to connect are recruiters with open job positions. From time to time I get invites from people I don't know but are connected to my network and if makes sense I accept them, otherwise you always have the choice to reject or ignore.

 

[RChecker]

I never give LinkedIn access to my contacts in my address book or to scan it. Maybe because of it I never had any issues as you describe them. Most of the people I don't know and trying to connect are recruiters with open job positions. From time to time I get invites from people I don't know but are connected to my network and if makes sense I accept them, otherwise you always have the choice to reject or ignore.

Of course an informed person would never willingly submit their address book or email account to another site, and they have an option to ignore or filter out invitations, that's not the issue here.
It's the less savvy people who fall prey to this, and it's an (un)ethical issue.
e.g. A relative of mine complained that they nearly got tricked by it. And there are some others who actually did.
It's creepy and potentially violates one's privacy.

 

[McGiord]

Of course an informed person would never willingly submit their address book or email account to another site, and they have an option to ignore or filter out invitations, that's not the issue here.
It's the less savvy people who fall prey to this, and it's an (un)ethical issue.
e.g. A relative of mine complained that they nearly got tricked by it. And there are some others who actually did.
It's creepy and potentially violates one's privacy.

The trend is worrisome, however the market behavior will determine what works better. It's like eBay, where the ratings to both buyer and seller plus the comments clear things out. Face to face networking will not be replaced by the virtual world but it's significantly enhanced when properly used.
You have to be carful by who is in your network therefore you don't get associated with those unprofessionals, and do get related to those who are real professionals.
The site theladders.com is trying to get into something like LinkedIn and as soons as I got the first notification about it I provided my feedback to them: I don't like another network. But on the other side, if they provide real competition to LinkedIn it will be beneficial to the users.

 

[0098386]

No, lots hate LinkedIn!
I used to have an account with them, but I didn't need it so I closed it ('soft closed'? I'm sure there was an option to disable the account). But it didn't work. For a year I got spammy emails asking me to come back. In the end I contacted support and said I wanted my whole account removed. Since then I haven't had any mail so I guess it worked.

I understand it can be a useful tool, I know lots in my industry use it (game development) but I've found attending networking events to be much more rewarding.

 

[McGiord]

No, lots hate LinkedIn!
I used to have an account with them, but I didn't need it so I closed it ('soft closed'? I'm sure there was an option to disable the account). But it didn't work. For a year I got spammy emails asking me to come back. In the end I contacted support and said I wanted my whole account removed. Since then I haven't had any mail so I guess it worked.

I understand it can be a useful tool, I know lots in my industry use it (game development) but I've found attending networking events to be much more rewarding.

Certainly real networking events are better, I become aware of many of those via LinkedIn.

 

[0098386]

Certainly real networking events are better, I become aware of many of those via LinkedIn.

Things exploded for me when I took to Twitter. Through either the organisers contacting me directly or following people who attend (word of mouth). Never got anything like that from Facebook or LinkedIn with UK/EU game industry events.

 

[rogerbottrell]

i don't like it...or twitter or face book for obvious reasons

your pals in the snowmen fan club

I often read stories about how great LinkedIn is but I've never heard of anyone who actually uses it saying anything good about it. Everyone I know signs up for it and then doesn't use it for anything. I especially hate it because I keep getting invites to join from people who I just happen to be in their address book. LinkedIn, in my opinion, is nothing more than a giant SPAM site and I'm sick of their invites. I have never used LinkedIn and I would never use it either because they have created a horrible impression with all their intrusive invites. Maybe I'm missing something? Anyone have a positive experience using it? When people ask me for my email address, I now ask them "Do you use or do you plan to use LinkedIn? If yes, then no you can't have my email".

 

[lamerica80]

I can be useful...rarely. I check in to see if any good jobs are out of if some recruiter have written.

I absolutely loathe the news feed though. Bunch of attention thirsty middle managers posting anecdotes on that one time they realised the importance of investing in the staff.

Or lower level employees marketing whatever amazeballs thing their company have done recently, as if they are the company.

Or posting an article nobody will read showing everyone how up to speed they are in the realm of international business and tech development.

 

[belvdr]

It's been going downhill, especially with people treating it as an alternative Facebook. I deleted my account.

 

[foulmouthedleon]

My wife's LI account sent me a "Do you know xxxxx" and I declined it. I'm not saying the site isn't useful, but to answer the OP's question - I could care less about it.

 

[Tech198]

Everyone I know signs up for it and then doesn't use it for anything..

haha... story of my life.

That's the same reason why i don't use social networks.

 

[Keebler]

I often read stories about how great LinkedIn is but I've never heard of anyone who actually uses it saying anything good about it. Everyone I know signs up for it and then doesn't use it for anything. I especially hate it because I keep getting invites to join from people who I just happen to be in their address book. LinkedIn, in my opinion, is nothing more than a giant SPAM site and I'm sick of their invites. I have never used LinkedIn and I would never use it either because they have created a horrible impression with all their intrusive invites. Maybe I'm missing something? Anyone have a positive experience using it? When people ask me for my email address, I now ask them "Do you use or do you plan to use LinkedIn? If yes, then no you can't have my email".

I use it sporadically. I get requests from people I don't know, but I just block them. I also have been recruited for jobs twice. Kind of nice, but I run my own business with my wife or I guess I should say I help her so I haven't been interested.

I think it's a clean looking app and serves a purpose. I can understand how some people don't like it. But for contacts in the working world, I think it's hugely important.

Cheers,
Brian

 

[gugy]

I think LinkedIN is great to help on job search and networking. They for sure are making harder to reach people after they only allow it using their message system that I don't think makes like a very professional approach. That said after someone accept my invitation, I figure out way to get their email and introduce myself.
Sure, there are occasional invites from people of different industries and fishy ones. Just ignore them.
With all that said, I have never landed a gig using it but I think as a research tool is a valuable platform.

 

[Tech198]

u gotta throw a few fish back before u catch THE ONE.

 

[hajime]

I've gotten interviews, and subsequently, one job from LinkedIn. A lot of good jobs aren't advertised; they come looking for you. LinkedIn is one of those places to be if you're entertaining the idea of a new job.

How?