Let me just begin by saying I don’t use Linked In that often. For me personally, its a little to clunky: looking and acting.
Today I try to connect with someone I KNOW, and have worked with…and I am prompted that I must put in their email address. I see someone else I know…and I have to enter Their address.
Next I get a lovely bright yellow box saying I have some restriction on my account because I have invited “several” people whom I don’t know to connect with. What?
The feeling I got was the same feeling I had in 3rd grade when everyone else was talking while the teacher was writing on the chalkboard, then she turned around, everyone quickly stopped talking, but I get MY name on the chalkboard (no – not completely innocent, but far from needing to be punished)!!!
I must now enter an email with every connection I try to make on Linked in. This is humorous for a couple reasons:
1. I haven’t used, or been on Linked in in over a month. I just don’t find it that useful.
2. I haven’t requested any new connections on Linked in in at least that long.
I am pretty confused about the whole thing really. Perhaps I tried to friend someone who I didn’t know and they complained to the “Linked In Po-Po” and I got a traffic ticket.
Perhaps someone is messing with me and complained even when they knew who I was.
Perhaps I just wanted to expand and expand my incredible world dominance and connect with every possible creative person in the universe and I blew up Linked In’s system and they couldn’t handle how many awesome contacts I was going to have so they had to put a kabosh on my tremendousness.
Yeah, that’s it.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow – maybe I’m missing something, but this really makes you sound a bit clueless. Tell me – how does LinkedIn know you know the person if you don’t know their email address?
Or are you wanting LinkedIn to act like Facebook where you can ask anyone to be your friend and people have to look through all those invites to see who they really know.
I think part of the idea in LinkedIn is to get people who would not normally sign up for social networking (like corporate CEOs) by offering some level of keeping all the hangers-on and wanna-bes from bothering them.
Then again, maybe you just have to ask yourself – if 35 million people are using LinkedIn and you can’t get it to work for you – maybe the problem isn’t with LinkedIn??
Thanks for the comment.
I am sure I have my clueless moments. Thanks for pointing that out.
Like I mentioned in the post – I don’t use Linked In that often, and saying “maybe the problem isn’t Linked In” could be the case. I think Linked in is clunky and boring for the most part.
When I HAVE connected with others in the past on Linked In – they have been thru mutual connections or from previous work experiences. (options that don’t require an email)
I get the point of Linked In, I don’t want it to act like anything other than what it is. A tool to connect people. Each tool has their own hoops to jump thru, some are more difficult than others.
I guess my bigger point is that as much as a business networking tool Linked In is supposed to be, for me and my business, it hasn’t been a huge help. I am part of groups, and I try to get back to the site to participate in conversations. But talking to my own groups that I already know and have contact with, doesn’t help grow my company.
I am not reaching out to random CEOs, and I would only do that if I had either 1. Engaged them in some conversation elsewhere, or 2. They knew who I was thru conversations in groups on Linked in.
Neither one of those has happened.
You seem to have no idea what you are talking about. I am not going to explain to you how linkedin works but if you knew about business you would know that linkedin is a treasure.
I appreciate the feedback Peter.
Please do explain, I would love to be able to learn more about why Linked In is a great tool.
Like I have said previously – I have not used it alot because of my personal dislikes, but am still open to its benefits. Please Share!
Hi Stu, I think I can help. I myself was a light LinkedIn user until about 2 years ago. However, my experience w/the company and professional needs have put me in a position to become more familiar with the site and its offerings.
I think that it’s important to mention that the benefits LI can offer each professional will vary by their needs. I use the site to communicate with my clients, co-workers, and prospects. Interactive media is an incredibly dynamic market place. People are constantly assuming new roles/positions, and frequently at new companies. It’s important that I’m able to keep in touch w/all of them so that I’m aware of their needs, and vice versa. Whether you recognize it or not, people are looking for your goods/services all over the web. Accessibility is crucial, and LinkedIn offers what I consider to be the best platform.
I also use the site to share information with my network (i.e. we I’m traveling, what books/article’s I might be reading, what are my perspectives on the various conversations taking place through the site in Groups or Answers, etc…). I need my clients to think of me as a resource, and LI allows me to showcase my expertise with the great visibility.
I’d recommend spending some time on the site. Get to know the applications available to you, start using the status update on your home page, participate in survey polls and featured questions, join groups that are relevant to your business, etc…
Here’s a link to the learning center which offers insights in how to best utilize the site for people who are less familiar: http://learn.linkedin.com/
Review this and get at it. I’m happy to help if you’ve any more questions. Just message me on LinkedIn (acalin@linkedin.com).
Best of luck!