I’ve just seen this article on CIO.COM which lists the top 10 annoying aspects of social networking, according to PCWORLD.
Number 8 in their list is a comment about LinkedIn being ‘uptight’ – the article goes to say:
the whole point of LinkedIn is to put your most professional foot forward, but really, LinkedIn, couldn’t we loosen the necktie just a little?
No!!!! Regular readers know that I am a fan of LinkedIn, because it’s one of the few sites on the web that takes business seriously and is a meeting place for businesspeople. It has considerable credibility in this field because the content is always business-focused. It doesn’t host opportunities for romance, zombie bites or sexual innuendo. If you want those – go to Facebook or Myspace.
So CIO.COM and PCWORLD, don’t encourage proud LinkedIn users to compromise its standards. Let’s keep this site for its primary purpose – business.
Absolutely – there are enough social networks out there. Linked in is a business network and it needs to be professional.
If you want to be social outside of business then do it on facebook.
@Graeme – haven’t I seen you on Facebook? You’re the one with the 1,000’s of friends aren’t you? 😉
Couldn’t agree more – I am sure that most of your subscribers will view this the same way.
That said, I can’t help feeling that Linked-In doesn’t absolutely hit the spot with certain areas of its functionality. The example that I am thinking of relates to my Consultancy situation whereby I receive dozens of (well, OK, some) invites from recruitment agencies. Now LI is very handy for keeping people up-to-date with your situation but I am not sure that I want recruitment agents all in my pot of contacts. I want to use it as an updating tools, but there is no need to network recruitment agents.
I wonder if you or your subscribers have any thoughts regarding Linked-In enhancements or usage suggestions? Now I think of it, perhaps there is a discussion topic on Linked-In…
@Dave – you make a good point on how LinkedIn is used to contact you. You can state your contact preferences on your profile to switch on or off your acceptance of job offers. If you switch this off and you are still contacted then you should report the wrongdoer to LinkedIn. They will stamp out this abuse – they need to maintain their credibility