LinkedIn strategy?

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gd
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LinkedIn strategy?

Post by gd »

I have just restarted a hobby job, where tech-knowlegeable people pay lots of money (to my employer!) for my skills and experience as an instructor. Some marketing blurbs will be available on my employer's web site, but I've also created a LinkedIn account to give these customers a way to quietly research me. I am not a Luddite, but simply have no interest in social media, don't text, and keep my dumb prepay cell phone off unless calling (no reception in my house). LinkedIn, like all social media, uses all sorts of contrived means to encourage linkings between users, some valid, some nonsense. Predictably, I have started to get connection alerts and requests from various people with tenuous connections-- for example, a financial advisor who also belongs to a local hobbyist club in the same general field, but with no likely impact to my new professional activities. The question: what is the best strategy for these likely-useless connection requests, some of which will certainly be marketing attempts or other unwanted spamishness? 1) ignore them, 2) actively reject them to keep my network focused, 3) accept them all and slowly end up with a big amorphous blob of contacts, because that's the point.
livesoft
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by livesoft »

I ignore linkedIn requests. I don't even have an account with them. No one I see personally that requested a link has ever asked me about it.

Here is a NYTimes piece on the subject that you will enjoy reading: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/fashi ... -turn.html
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frugaltype
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by frugaltype »

I have a slightly better than skeletal LinkedIn account. I only accept connections from people I actually know either professionally (or relatives.)
carolinaman
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by carolinaman »

I have a LinkedIn account with about 140 contacts. I am retired so it is not terribly useful to me. When I worked I established my professional network through professional associations. However, if I were still working, I would use it because it can be an effective networking tool, especially if you are marketing your services. It has also helped me reconnect with people I worked with many years ago, including a good friend I had not seen in 40 years.

The downside is you have to tolerate sales people and others wanting to connect to you. I just ignore these and find it a minimal nuisance. It is pretty easy to manage that IMO. It sounds like it could be useful to you in your current role. I do not think you have to resort to other social media to use LinkedIn effectively.
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bottlecap
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by bottlecap »

Deny the request with a note that you are segregating this as strictly a business account. I know several people who do this.

JT
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Redstorm
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by Redstorm »

There'a a Bogleheads group on LinkedIn
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greg24
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by greg24 »

I turn down any requests that I don't truly have a business connection with.
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englishgirl
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by englishgirl »

Coming from a different point of view:

If someone has even a tenuous connection to your new business field, I would accept the request. I would have accepted the request from that financial adviser in a heartbeat. What's the worst that will happen? They send you a message introducing themselves and you ignore it? I have not found that LinkedIn is in any way spam-ish. Yes, people want to make a pitch. That's the whole point. Most people don't bother, but I get occasional messages. Nobody has ever sent me repeated unwanted messages though. Don't you want to be able to introduce your services should you choose? The real point is that by accepting the connection, your network of people you can contact expands to include all your connection's connections.

If it's someone totally random with no connection to you, a) it is hard for them to even make the request to connect, and b) you can ignore it. But a tenuous connection (and, honestly, membership in a hobby club in the same field is not all that tenuous) is a way to make links to people who might want your services. Don't ignore them!
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curmudgeon
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by curmudgeon »

I keep a very minimal profile on linkedin. I set linkedin to generate no more than one email a week to me. I ignore the tenuous connections (even if I know who that person is, but I didn't work with them personally). If a well-targeted job interview request comes in, I'll generally politely respond "no thanks"; the more generic spam is just ignored.
leonard
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by leonard »

You are going on LinkedIn as a marketing strategy. Every connection provides an opportunity to meet and market. This seems like a 1 + 1 situation.

By the way - I have never had anyone market to me on LinkedIn in such a way that the first refusal was ignored.

Also, every contact - even them contacting you - is an opportunity to educate on your services.

BTW: do you get a commission or retain more of the bill rate if you retain the customer (via LinkedIn or however)? if your marketing is going to source a lot of the business - you should structure your agreement with your employer accordingly.
Leonard | | Market Timing: Do you seriously think you can predict the future? What else do the voices tell you? | | If employees weren't taking jobs with bad 401k's, bad 401k's wouldn't exist.
MoonOrb
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by MoonOrb »

I accept every LinkedIn request. LinkedIn is for building connections, marketing, keeping track of people in your network, learning about new opportunties, etc. All of these things are enhanced by embracing connections, even if they're to people I have never even met.

Beyond this, there's virtually no downside to this. LinkedIn is not a place where I post personal details about myself that I would not want anyone to find. It's where I want members of the public to find me should they search for me. I don't need to filter what I say or worry about managing my LinkedIn network because anything I say there I am willing to say in public, and anything that can be learned from LinkedIn about me can likewise easily be learned elsewhere. It's like having a detailed Yellow Pages ad (in that sense).

I rarely receive requests from people I don't know, so I haven't had to worry about developing a big, amorphous blog of unknown contacts. Maybe I'd reconsider if I was overwhelmed with people I don't know, but out of 350ish contacts, the number I don't know is on the order of half a dozen.

One thing I would recommend, however: turn off all email notifications from LinkedIn; failing that, have all LinkedIn notifications sent to an email folder that bypasses your inbox.
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siamond
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by siamond »

englishgirl wrote:Coming from a different point of view:

If someone has even a tenuous connection to your new business field, I would accept the request. I would have accepted the request from that financial adviser in a heartbeat. What's the worst that will happen? They send you a message introducing themselves and you ignore it? I have not found that LinkedIn is in any way spam-ish. Yes, people want to make a pitch. That's the whole point. Most people don't bother, but I get occasional messages. Nobody has ever sent me repeated unwanted messages though. Don't you want to be able to introduce your services should you choose? The real point is that by accepting the connection, your network of people you can contact expands to include all your connection's connections.

If it's someone totally random with no connection to you, a) it is hard for them to even make the request to connect, and b) you can ignore it. But a tenuous connection (and, honestly, membership in a hobby club in the same field is not all that tenuous) is a way to make links to people who might want your services. Don't ignore them!
I agree. This is exactly what I tend to do.
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by KyleAAA »

I'd just accept the request. The volume of spamish stuff coming through LinkedIn is pretty much zero anyway. And even if you happen to get spammed, it's just the cost of leveraging social media. There's really no downside at all to just accepting every request.
Last edited by KyleAAA on Fri Aug 09, 2013 5:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
lwfitzge
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by lwfitzge »

My career is not local but has an international/national reach and footprint. Linkedin has been very useful to understanding my extended network for fostering collaborations, new consulting gigs, and job opportunities. If a person is truly peripheral or unrelated to my line of business, I tend not accept the connection, however if the person is in anyway a peer or stakeholder in my line of business I accept. In my line, if you did not have social media presence, it does not reflect too well and people would tend to judge you rightly or wrongly as a dinosaur. If I get spammed and it's legit, I don't mind. If not interested, I just ignore. I second the recommendation to restrict notifications to minimize traffic especially from groups you belong to.
WHL
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by WHL »

I keep Facebook to real life friends & family only (no current co-workers, ever).

I keep LinkedIn to real life business acquaintances / coworkers / former coworkers only.

I have a few recruiters on my linkedin page that I don't know in real life, but they serve a purpose. I'm active in my field's "groups," and I also routinely deny or refuse to add people I don't know. Because of my reputation in my past jobs, I get a lot of newbs to that industry trying to add me to gain access to my contacts. Nerp...
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Clearly_Irrational
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by Clearly_Irrational »

greg24 wrote:I turn down any requests that I don't truly have a business connection with.
This. If I haven't worked with you in some professional capacity then I won't accept a Linkedin request. Facebook on the other hand is for friends, relatives and acquaintances I actually liked. (which may include some former co-workers)

If managed properly however, Linkedin can be an extremely valuable resource.
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gd
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by gd »

Thanks for the comments; I will probably accept those with a discernable connection and see where it goes. It doesn't sound like people are very aggressive about abusing it.
enderland
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by enderland »

I frequently use Linked-In to look up people I am going to have meetings with or interview (if I'm lucky enough to know their name ahead of time).

Knowing someone's background can be quite helpful, even if it's cheesy and they know you looked them up from the notification.
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by Mudpuppy »

My personal policy is to only accept requests on LinkedIn from people I actually know in a professional context.
grok87
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by grok87 »

linkedin is a funny network. Be aware that some people pay for a higher service level where they can see who clicked on their profile.
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ClevrChico
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by ClevrChico »

I only use LinkedIn for the articles. They're interesting along with the comments.

If you don't truly know someone, you shouldn't add them to your network. LinkedIn seems more lenient in this regard now.

Most of the messages I receive are from flakey recruiters with lame jobs, so I ignore them. One trick I learned is to always turn down job inquiries initially to qualify them. If it's actually decent, they'll always try again.
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frugaltype
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by frugaltype »

grok87 wrote:linkedin is a funny network. Be aware that some people pay for a higher service level where they can see who clicked on their profile.
I don't pay for LInkedIn, but it still rats on some number of people who view my account.
grok87
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by grok87 »

frugaltype wrote:
grok87 wrote:linkedin is a funny network. Be aware that some people pay for a higher service level where they can see who clicked on their profile.
I don't pay for LInkedIn, but it still rats on some number of people who view my account.
its a weird system. If i want to casually check someone out, i make sure that i am not signed in first.
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by abuss368 »

I have a LinkedIn account but have mixed feelings on the whole thing. I generally link only to folks I know but lately I have been second guessing that approach. In some respects one is not only networking but marketing themselves and the firm they work for.
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by FinancialRamblings »

Here's a recent success story about how LinkedIn led to a great new job: My New Job

Unfortunately, he doesn't give a lot of detail about exactly how he manages his account -- though he promises more info in a forthcoming post.

As for me, I haven't seen a lot of value in LinkedIn, though I admittedly don't use it for much of anything. I've connected with a number of people with whom I have at least a tangential work relationship, but that's about it.
I've got money on my mind...
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dm200
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by dm200 »

I use LinkedIn to a moderate degree, and find it somewhat useful.

I thought I posted this question or puzzlement I have about "company" or "organization" accounts yesterday on LinkedIn, but don't see it - so I will try again here.

In my LinkedIn profile I list an organization for which I am a very part time "manager" (run things day to day). I do not recall setting up any kind of company or organization account on LinkedIn for this.

Recently, I see (loosely associated with my LinkedIn account) what seems to be a company or organization LinkedIn account. It has the web site for the organization listed. There are a few sentences about what the organization does and so on. My guess is that LinkedIn may have set this up, using information from the web site and/or information from my LinkedIn account. The curious thing is that there is a typo in the name of the organization (one word has one wrong letter). I can't see how this can be fixed, or if I should even try. When I google that misspelled name, the only place that comes up in the search if LinkedIn. I also get emails from LinkedIn to my personal email that is the one I use for my personal LinkedIn account.

Any ideas about this organization or company LinkedIn account?
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by Mudpuppy »

dm200 wrote:Any ideas about this organization or company LinkedIn account?
Could be a precursor to a spear-phishing attack on people who work at or are associated with that company. It also could be a half-hearted attempt by someone at the company to make a LinkedIn presence. I highly doubt LinkedIn auto-generated it from your listing, unless you had made the exact same typo in your listing.

You should mention this to the president/CEO/leader of the company. If he/she looks into the matter and finds that no one at the company created the LinkedIn account, he/she can contact LinkedIn about the matter. There's nothing else for you to do, other than inform the company of the account.
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pennstater2005
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by pennstater2005 »

I had a LinkedIn account. I liked it at first but then after receiving an insane amount of notifications and emails I deleted the account. I know I probably could've changed some settings but deleting it was easy. Thought I would use it, never did.
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htdrag11
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by htdrag11 »

Though retired recently, I kept up my LI profile. I normally do not reject people, unless the person has nothing to do with my field (rather rare). Also, I'm not an open connection, like a LION.

I buy and sell expensive stuff on Craigslist, so sometime people would like to see the merchandise. Using LI's profile or other social networking sites, it's amazing what you find out about the prospective buyers before you meet them.

Never did I get any nasty surprises with 350 links, an advantage of being an old fart (unlike my younger connections with glamour shots).

Overall, I find more pluses than minuses when used appropriately to build up your network.
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dm200
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by dm200 »

Mudpuppy wrote:
dm200 wrote:Any ideas about this organization or company LinkedIn account?
Could be a precursor to a spear-phishing attack on people who work at or are associated with that company. It also could be a half-hearted attempt by someone at the company to make a LinkedIn presence. I highly doubt LinkedIn auto-generated it from your listing, unless you had made the exact same typo in your listing.

You should mention this to the president/CEO/leader of the company. If he/she looks into the matter and finds that no one at the company created the LinkedIn account, he/she can contact LinkedIn about the matter. There's nothing else for you to do, other than inform the company of the account.
I am the equivalent of President/CEO/leader of the "company". Nobody else would have done this.
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ejvyas
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by ejvyas »

MoonOrb wrote:I accept every LinkedIn request. LinkedIn is for building connections, marketing, keeping track of people in your network, learning about new opportunties, etc. All of these things are enhanced by embracing connections, even if they're to people I have never even met.

Beyond this, there's virtually no downside to this. LinkedIn is not a place where I post personal details about myself that I would not want anyone to find. It's where I want members of the public to find me should they search for me. I don't need to filter what I say or worry about managing my LinkedIn network because anything I say there I am willing to say in public, and anything that can be learned from LinkedIn about me can likewise easily be learned elsewhere. It's like having a detailed Yellow Pages ad (in that sense).

I rarely receive requests from people I don't know, so I haven't had to worry about developing a big, amorphous blog of unknown contacts. Maybe I'd reconsider if I was overwhelmed with people I don't know, but out of 350ish contacts, the number I don't know is on the order of half a dozen.

One thing I would recommend, however: turn off all email notifications from LinkedIn; failing that, have all LinkedIn notifications sent to an email folder that bypasses your inbox.
+1

I have over close to 700 connections
Mudpuppy
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by Mudpuppy »

dm200 wrote:
Mudpuppy wrote:
dm200 wrote:Any ideas about this organization or company LinkedIn account?
Could be a precursor to a spear-phishing attack on people who work at or are associated with that company. It also could be a half-hearted attempt by someone at the company to make a LinkedIn presence. I highly doubt LinkedIn auto-generated it from your listing, unless you had made the exact same typo in your listing.

You should mention this to the president/CEO/leader of the company. If he/she looks into the matter and finds that no one at the company created the LinkedIn account, he/she can contact LinkedIn about the matter. There's nothing else for you to do, other than inform the company of the account.
I am the equivalent of President/CEO/leader of the "company". Nobody else would have done this.
In that case, you want to contact LinkedIn and file a report about the profile. Start with these help pages and see where they get you:

Reporting or Flagging Inappropriate Profiles, Content, or Spam: http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/de ... id/146/h/c
LinkedIn's False Profile Policy: http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/de ... /30200/h/c
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dm200
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by dm200 »

Mudpuppy wrote:
dm200 wrote:
Mudpuppy wrote:
dm200 wrote:Any ideas about this organization or company LinkedIn account?
Could be a precursor to a spear-phishing attack on people who work at or are associated with that company. It also could be a half-hearted attempt by someone at the company to make a LinkedIn presence. I highly doubt LinkedIn auto-generated it from your listing, unless you had made the exact same typo in your listing.

You should mention this to the president/CEO/leader of the company. If he/she looks into the matter and finds that no one at the company created the LinkedIn account, he/she can contact LinkedIn about the matter. There's nothing else for you to do, other than inform the company of the account.
I am the equivalent of President/CEO/leader of the "company". Nobody else would have done this.
In that case, you want to contact LinkedIn and file a report about the profile. Start with these help pages and see where they get you:

Reporting or Flagging Inappropriate Profiles, Content, or Spam: http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/de ... id/146/h/c
LinkedIn's False Profile Policy: http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/de ... /30200/h/c
OK, this headed me in the right direction. Turns out that I am the "Administrator" (somehow) and I can correct the spelling, add or change information, etc. :happy
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legio XX
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by legio XX »

I keep getting invitations from people I don't know or from people I do know who didn't send them. I also get endorsed for skills I don't have while the skills I do have never show up.

Whenever I log in they ask to get into my email list, which I always refuse. Apparently some others are less fussy which explains the robo-invites (from never-met classmates of neighbors I hardly know). Then the program sends form letters to my connections and asks them to "endorse" me. So, nice obliging folks endorse me for everything the program has created based on - whatever I've looked at?

I am most-endorsed as an art historian, which is pretty odd since I am not one. I am a historian. I look at lots of art. That's not being an art historian. I publish mostly in military history - which doesn't even show up as a category to endorse, probably because I didn't join the LinkedIn milhist group - I have more than enough to do in my field and know where to find who and what I need to find.

I joined LinkedIn because it was a "professional networking" site (meaning??), but I don't really see what good it does. Supposedly, a social media presence is required for Everything. It's the first thing "they" look for. Etc. So, beyond the obvious step of conecting to people who are most relevant to my own field, how do I make use of this?

How are others actually using this site?

Vic
MoonOrb
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by MoonOrb »

legio XX wrote: I joined LinkedIn because it was a "professional networking" site (meaning??), but I don't really see what good it does. Supposedly, a social media presence is required for Everything. It's the first thing "they" look for. Etc. So, beyond the obvious step of conecting to people who are most relevant to my own field, how do I make use of this?

How are others actually using this site?

Vic
I use the site in three ways.

First, it's like a rolodex that I don't need to update or keep track of myself because my contacts update it themselves. When people change jobs or get new contact information I have a handy way to keep track of them and get ahold of them if I need to. I find this to be LinkedIn's most valuable function for me. I have about 350 contacts and I'm positive that many of them I would have already lost touch with had I not included them in my LinkedIn network. It's also great to see when people who I know but are not close with change organizations or take on a new role.

Second, it's an internet platform for my professional life: it's pretty much the first result that comes up when I'm googled, which is great, because I have substantial control over the content. I can put on my relevant jobs, education, links to other professional pages, my title, articles I've written, any contact information, a professional picture, etc. So if anyone is looking for me for a professional reason, boom--I'm easy to find.

Third, it's a good way to learn about people you may have professional interaction with--often they're in your extended network and you can navigate to their page and glean some information, see who else they might know that could introduce you or tell you a little about them or their business and so on.

I don't find LinkedIn to be some magic tool that solves all sorts of problems or completely replaces other networking activies, but it's free, easy to use, and requires very little management or effort.

I reiterate here that the LinkedIn experience is (in my opinion) much better when all LinkedIn emails notifications are turned off/directed to a folder other than my inbox. If I want to interact with the site, I log in to it and look at it. I don't want to be spammed by a dozen emails a day from the site. That's yucky.
davebarnes
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Exactly

Post by davebarnes »

MoonOrb wrote:I accept every LinkedIn request. LinkedIn is for...
The smart action in my opinion.
A nerd living in Denver
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patriciamgr2
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by patriciamgr2 »

As some of the earlier posters noted, it is important to avoid checking the box which allows LinkedIn to search your email contacts & use your name to invite all of them to use LinkedIn.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news describes a lawsuit filed by LinkedIn customers who claim they did not give permission for their email accounts to be searched, but whose names were used to send marketing emails to every contact in their email account. Not as funny as the NY Times article referenced above, just scary!

I never gave permission for my email contact list to be used; after checking with a few people, I don't believe anyone in my contact list received marketing materials. I closed my account as a precaution, however. I'm confident that a more reputable alternative will spring up quickly--a professional networking site which won't invite recipients of long-ago emails who've since passed away to connect with you (at least until they've perfected the means of connection :happy ). Although I'm making a joking reference to the NY Times article, there have been even scarier incidents alleged. Online, one former client claimed that LinkedIn sent an invitation to a mentally-ill person with whom the LinkedIn member had a professional association (& had sent a business email) before a restraining order was issued. Others claim that people whom they were suing were invited. Of course, for anyone who used a personal email account to log in to LinkedIn but hasn't cleared out former loves from their email contacts...

One silver lining: understanding what the company is doing has solved the mystery of why all of these unlikely people were sending me invitations--now I assume their old emails were scavenged.

Just another reason to always double-check those privacy settings! Best Wishes
FedGuy
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by FedGuy »

patriciamgr2 wrote:As some of the earlier posters noted, it is important to avoid checking the box which allows LinkedIn to search your email contacts & use your name to invite all of them to use LinkedIn.
When I joined, I denied the service permission to search my e-mail contacts. I'm unaware of the service ever contacting anyone under my name without my permission, but it routinely asks if I want to connect with someone I sent a single e-mail to four years ago or something, so I'm pretty confident that it ignored my instructions not to scan my contacts.

I tend to be pretty anal about these things, so I'm confident that I didn't carelessly click on the wrong thing.
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Ged
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by Ged »

I have a fairly active LinkedIn account that I will likely maintain post-retirement from my full-time job (less than 2 weeks away!!) in order to provide potential networking opportunities for friends (mostly current and past coworkers) and family.

So I'm relatively expansive in who I accept connections from. However it's a fact that I also get spam and phishing email with LinkedIn looking formats. So I check things carefully before accepting an invitation.
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by dodonnell »

FedGuy wrote:
...snip...
...but it routinely asks if I want to connect with someone I sent a single e-mail to four years ago or something, so I'm pretty confident that it ignored my instructions not to scan my contacts
...snip...
More likely scenario is that that "someone" who you sent a single e-mail to four years ago ... joined Linkedin, enable them to scan his email folders ... and harvest your email from his mailbox.
Knowing that YOU, an existing member, reached out to him, a new member.
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Optimistic
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by Optimistic »

FedGuy wrote:
patriciamgr2 wrote:As some of the earlier posters noted, it is important to avoid checking the box which allows LinkedIn to search your email contacts & use your name to invite all of them to use LinkedIn.
When I joined, I denied the service permission to search my e-mail contacts. I'm unaware of the service ever contacting anyone under my name without my permission, but it routinely asks if I want to connect with someone I sent a single e-mail to four years ago or something, so I'm pretty confident that it ignored my instructions not to scan my contacts.

I tend to be pretty anal about these things, so I'm confident that I didn't carelessly click on the wrong thing.
How would LinkedIn be able to "see" your email contacts without you providing a password for the email provider?
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patriciamgr2
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by patriciamgr2 »

In response to Optimistic's question of how this was done, I do not have independent information. My account did not appear to have been "mined" for contacts.

FYI: From the Bloomberg.com article (which is sourced from the plaintiff's complaint in its lawsuit):

"LinkedIn required the members to provide an external e-mail address as their username on its site, then used the information to access their external e-mail accounts when they were left open, according to the complaint. 'LinkedIn pretends to be that user and downloads the e-mail addresses contained anywhere in that account to LinkedIn’s servers,' they said. 'LinkedIn is able to download these addresses without requesting the password for the external e-mail accounts or obtaining users’ consent.' ”

Technically, I have no idea how this happens. It seems like hacking to me, but I'm not tech savvy. I will say that this sort of short-term "gotcha" tactics relying on a customer's being too busy or not technically proficient enough to protect himself does not seem to me to be a good long-term strategy. People spend decades building up their professional credibility.
Mudpuppy
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by Mudpuppy »

FedGuy wrote:
patriciamgr2 wrote:As some of the earlier posters noted, it is important to avoid checking the box which allows LinkedIn to search your email contacts & use your name to invite all of them to use LinkedIn.
When I joined, I denied the service permission to search my e-mail contacts. I'm unaware of the service ever contacting anyone under my name without my permission, but it routinely asks if I want to connect with someone I sent a single e-mail to four years ago or something, so I'm pretty confident that it ignored my instructions not to scan my contacts.

I tend to be pretty anal about these things, so I'm confident that I didn't carelessly click on the wrong thing.
If you downloaded the app after you signed up on the website, you might have overwritten that particular setting. The LinkedIn app also asks for permission to access your phone's contact list, which is why I will never install it on my phone.
patriciamgr2 wrote:In response to Optimistic's question of how this was done, I do not have independent information. My account did not appear to have been "mined" for contacts.

FYI: From the Bloomberg.com article (which is sourced from the plaintiff's complaint in its lawsuit):

"LinkedIn required the members to provide an external e-mail address as their username on its site, then used the information to access their external e-mail accounts when they were left open, according to the complaint. 'LinkedIn pretends to be that user and downloads the e-mail addresses contained anywhere in that account to LinkedIn’s servers,' they said. 'LinkedIn is able to download these addresses without requesting the password for the external e-mail accounts or obtaining users’ consent.' ”

Technically, I have no idea how this happens. It seems like hacking to me, but I'm not tech savvy. I will say that this sort of short-term "gotcha" tactics relying on a customer's being too busy or not technically proficient enough to protect himself does not seem to me to be a good long-term strategy. People spend decades building up their professional credibility.
If this is correct, it would be a form of session hijacking. This works when you were using webmail in the same browser session as the LinkedIn browser session, as cookies are not fully protected between tabs in a concurrent session. Given the number of people I know who do not log out of either LinkedIn or webmail when they close the browser, and who do not have the browser set to delete cookies and force a logout on closing, this would work on a great deal of people.
FedGuy
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by FedGuy »

Mudpuppy wrote:If this is correct, it would be a form of session hijacking. This works when you were using webmail in the same browser session as the LinkedIn browser session, as cookies are not fully protected between tabs in a concurrent session. Given the number of people I know who do not log out of either LinkedIn or webmail when they close the browser, and who do not have the browser set to delete cookies and force a logout on closing, this would work on a great deal of people.
First, I've never downloaded or used the app.

Second, I typically have my Gmail account open in one tab of my browser whenever I'm at my computer and do my work in other tabs. I probably had both sites open in different tabs at the same time when I initially created my LinkedIn account. Maybe that's how they got my contacts.
S&L1940
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Location: South Florida

Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by S&L1940 »

I do some consulting and have landed marketing projects because of LinkedIn business relationships
Now I see neighbors (for the most part long retired) and relatives looking to connect with me. I do not do Facebook and have no interest in creating an online network of friends.

I receive invitations to connect with people I do not know and for the most part they do not have any profile detail on their LinkedIn page. I believe LinkedIn is devaluing their image by constantly asking us to endorse others for various "skills". You look at some of the profiles and they have dozens of endorsements for their list of skills from dozens of people. Where is the value in that?

For me LinkedIn has been a (free) fountain of information in finding marketing prospects based on titles and the companies they work for. I have read about LinkedIn mining email accounts but have no recollection of being offered an option about the availability of my email address book.
Don't it always seem to go * That you don't know what you've got * Till it's gone
travellight
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Location: San Diego

Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by travellight »

I am always amazed at the invasion of privacy due to access to one's contact list. This happens in gmail as well, at least to me. I have something called Whatsapp on my phone and I am surprised when all these people pop up as being on Whatsapp who I may have had phone contact with once, ever. I worry that I pop up for them as well.
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gunn_show
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by gunn_show »

MoonOrb wrote:I accept every LinkedIn request. LinkedIn is for building connections, marketing, keeping track of people in your network, learning about new opportunties, etc. All of these things are enhanced by embracing connections, even if they're to people I have never even met.

Beyond this, there's virtually no downside to this. LinkedIn is not a place where I post personal details about myself that I would not want anyone to find. It's where I want members of the public to find me should they search for me. I don't need to filter what I say or worry about managing my LinkedIn network because anything I say there I am willing to say in public, and anything that can be learned from LinkedIn about me can likewise easily be learned elsewhere. It's like having a detailed Yellow Pages ad (in that sense).

I rarely receive requests from people I don't know, so I haven't had to worry about developing a big, amorphous blog of unknown contacts. Maybe I'd reconsider if I was overwhelmed with people I don't know, but out of 350ish contacts, the number I don't know is on the order of half a dozen.

One thing I would recommend, however: turn off all email notifications from LinkedIn; failing that, have all LinkedIn notifications sent to an email folder that bypasses your inbox.
+1. LinkedIn has been very fruitful for me. No downside at all. Built a lot of connections, and landed my last 2 jobs through recruiters on the site (big raises with each). Embracing LinkedIn and using it correctly can be very advantageous.
"The best life hack of all is to just put the work in and never give up." Bas Rutten
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EternalOptimist
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by EternalOptimist »

Have had a LI account for over 5 years (300+ connections) and have found it interesting to be a part of. Sure there are strangers trying to connect but everyone connected to me either I know or wouldn't mind knowing. I use there 'groups' a fair amount--like, tennis, professional--and participate in the discussions. It sounds like you don't do 'technology' so it may not be worth your while. I find it a nice way to stay connected as I don't have a Facebook account.
"When nothing goes right....go left"
placeholder
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by placeholder »

What happens when you get linkedin requests and you aren't on LI? Is there anything you can do with them other than say no?
MoonOrb
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Re: LinkedIn strategy?

Post by MoonOrb »

placeholder wrote:What happens when you get linkedin requests and you aren't on LI? Is there anything you can do with them other than say no?
You either join LinkedIn, delete the e-mail, or reach out to the person who e-mailed you (I don't know if you can reply from the LinkedIn invite or not; I think that maybe you can).
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