LinkedIn market themselves as a social network for professionals to connect with other people in their industry, industry leaders and potential recruiters. To me, it doesn't match that description at all. If it did, I think it could be brilliant! Unfortunately, I think the people who run it are more interested in having a lot of users than sticking to the USP.
From what I've seen, people add their friends and people they follow on Twitter. Perhaps, in the case of bloggers, they add a blogger or two they haven't connected with else where yet.
I did exactly the same, plus I added a few of the people LinkedIn recommended (in hindsight, I'm not sure why as most of them weren't bloggers or writers) but I was determined to actually use it. I posted some things, but to be honest, it felt pointless. There is very little interaction on there and it doesn't feel social at all.
I requested to join some blogger groups. This was a bit of a waste of time. The majority of them seem pretty inactive.
There were two I found that seemed quite active. One was ok, and is used quite regularly, but again, there is no interaction. Everyone just posts their links and ignores everyone else's.
The other one was quite amusing. I got an email telling me I hadn't been approved to join because I was a spammer. I can't say I was particularly upset, but I was intrigued to know how the group's admin had decided that, so I emailed him back asking why he thought I was a spammer.
He came back saying I only had 9 connections so I was obviously a spammer. Granted, I did only have 9 connections, I had only been a member 45 minutes - sorry the entire site wasn't just waiting with baited breath for me to join so they could mass add me!
I then got a follow up email telling me I should change my blog's name because I had no way of distinguishing myself from all the other bloggers out there. Perhaps that's true. Perhaps it isn't. There are a lot of blogs with similar names and about similar things - show me a blog that isn't similar to someone else's somewhere in the world. I don't know if I manage to distinguish myself from all the other blogs, but people seem to find me easy enough, and I am more than happy with my readership level.
To be honest, I found the whole thing quite bizarre. I could kind of understand why he would assume that someone with a tiny number of connections could be a spammer, but before sending an email, check how long they have been a member, otherwise you just look a bit silly. And as for my blog's name, he has a right to an opinion, I don't even object to him telling me his opinion, free speech and all that, but that still seemed irrelevant to whether or not you could join a group.
He then said once I had more connections and had changed my name, that LinkedIn and this group would be more my sort of place.
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| Clones! Need I say more? |
Erm no, I don't think I want to be a member of such an elitist group and I am certainly not going to change my blog's name because some random man on the internet thinks I should.
So anyway, bizarre characters aside, I still don't really get LinkedIn. I have been approached by a few recruiters which was nice, but I'm not looking for a job. I have had some PR emails, which I believe found my blog through there but I could be totally wrong, they may have found me through Twitter, Google, anywhere really.
It's really not for me, and I don't think it's very useful for bloggers.
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| Not my cup of tea! |
I will keep the account open in case I change my mind in the future, but I am not going to be actively using it. The only time I ever go on there is if someone adds me. When I click accept, it takes me to the page to say connection made. I have a quick check through notifications and that's it.
It may be a case of I'm not using it properly, or not connecting with the right people, but it feels like a boring version of Facebook to be honest.
What do you think? Anyone out there think it's fab? Any tips on how to use it better? Let me know in the comments :)
Keep Calm and Carry On Linking Sunday
