# What's the deal with LinkedIn? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 18, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729 "2014-10-18T18:26:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/1 "2014-10-18T18:26:28Z")
Not really sure I actually understand all the ins and outs of LinkedIn. I kinda get that it’s networking software for people in various types of “businessperson-type” occupations. But, I have occasionally received an email, purporting to be from a friend or a relative, inviting me to join LinkedIn. Why, I do not know. The first couple of times it happened, I sent a reply back, asking my correspondent why I was being invited to join. I have never received a response to an inquiry about that. As it happens, I have no interest in anything entrepreneurial, and the idea of being in a position where “networking” is advantageous to me turns my stomach. And yet the LinkedIn invitation emails still sporadically show up in my inbox. I’m beginning to suspect that if you’re a member, the software on the site periodically sends out recruiting emails to people in your contacts list. Anybody know what’s going on? Thanks for any information. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/2 "2014-10-18T18:33:18Z")
People sometimes import their email contact lists into LinkedIn, to find out which people they know who are also on LinkedIn, so they can connect with them. If there is an email in your contact list which is not associated with a LinkedIn account, LinkedIn shows a button that will allow you to send an invitation to that person to join. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/3 "2014-10-18T18:39:25Z")
Thanks. So, some of my email contacts are careless and will just direct their accounts to recruit ALL non-members? Is that about right? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/4 "2014-10-18T18:44:37Z")
Pretty much. LinkedIn can be a useful tool for any professional, by the way. You don’t have to be some coke-snorting MBA-tard to use it. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/5 "2014-10-18T19:13:19Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > LinkedIn can be a useful tool for any professional, by the way. You don’t have to be some coke-snorting MBA-tard to use it. It seems to be of most use to job-hopping tech professionals, and the usual market-churning sales types in insurance and finance who depend on the largest possible circle of “contacts” to schmooze their daily commissions. The most use I’ve found for it is getting the contact info for long-ago work acquaintances who have little internet footprint. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/6 "2014-10-18T19:17:36Z")
I don’t know why people treat networking as such a dirty word. It doesn’t matter what position you are in being connected to other people is a tremendous advantage. Being on LinkedIn allowed a recruiter to find me which is about to lead to me getting a new job at a higher level for a lot more money. That’s what it basically comes down to. LinkedIn is a way for you to find a better job, or a job if you don’t have one. It puts your name out there in a way for it to be found in a way that creates meaningful connections. To put it this way: A senior manager is looking to hire an experienced such and such. They have a former colleague that is now a senior manager at one of their competitors. Our senior manager goes on linked in, looks at their former colleague’s connections, sees 4 experienced such and suches, and then tries to poach them. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/7 "2014-10-18T19:46:11Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > It seems to be of most use to job-hopping tech professionals, and the usual market-churning sales types in insurance and finance who depend on the largest possible circle of “contacts” to schmooze their daily commissions. > > The most use I’ve found for it is getting the contact info for long-ago work acquaintances who have little internet footprint. I’ve known way too many people in all areas who’ve gotten jobs through LinkedIn. We’ve even reached out to upper level academic administrators through LinkedIn to see if they knew any possible candidates for administrative openings we’ve had. It’s a good tool. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/8 "2014-10-18T20:18:41Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > I’ve known way too many people in all areas who’ve gotten jobs through LinkedIn. We’ve even reached out to upper level academic administrators through LinkedIn to see if they knew any possible candidates for administrative openings we’ve had. > > It’s a good tool. I said “most” because I know those arguments. That said, I don’t know another working professional in my “network” who has ever found it worth maintaining the rather pricey subscription to. Those who use it tend to re-up during job hunts and then let it lapse. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/9 "2014-10-18T20:29:11Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Thanks. So, some of my email contacts are careless and will just direct their accounts to recruit ALL non-members? Is that about right? The LinkedIn interface is [designed to encourage that error](https://getsatisfaction.com/linkedin/topics/why_does_linkedin_think_its_ok_to_trick_me_into_spamming_my_entire_gmail_address_book), and they’ve been sued for [allegedly accessing user contacts to spam them with invites](https://gigaom.com/2013/09/21/linkedin-is-breaking-into-user-emails-spamming-contacts-lawsuit/). ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/10 "2014-10-18T20:30:24Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I said “most” because I know those arguments. > > That said, I don’t know another working professional in my “network” who has ever found it worth maintaining the rather pricey subscription to. Those who use it tend to re-up during job hunts and then let it lapse. Well, most people I know have found it valuable, across many fields. My point was that the usefulness extends beyond “job hopping techies”. I think that’ same stereotype and there are many different professionals who find it valuable. And I don’t pay anything for my subscription. You can get most functionality for free. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/11 "2014-10-18T20:38:44Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Well, most people I know have found it valuable, across many fields. My point was that the usefulness extends beyond “job hopping techies”. I think that’ same stereotype and there are many different professionals who find it valuable. **shrug** No argument. It obviously survives and sweeps in enough people to stay viable. > [@](#): > > And I don’t pay anything for my subscription. You can get most functionality for free. Except the all-important ability to contact anyone. My near-universal experience is that you may be able to locate someone by their LI profile, even those phantoms who have little other internet footprint (older, non-tech industries, not web users, isolated by flappers, etc.) but even knowing T. Pufferton Smythe is at BigCo, BigCo guards its staff directory well enough that even a division phone number may not be available. Much less anything like a direct phone or email, or even region that Smythe might be in. It’s mostly a useful adjunct to other resources. “Oh, yeah, Smythe is at BigCo… I have a friend there who can look up his email for me.” ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/12 "2014-10-18T20:43:40Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > **shrug** No argument. It obviously survives and sweeps in enough people to stay viable. > Except the all-important ability to contact anyone. My near-universal experience is that you may be able to locate someone by their LI profile, even those phantoms who have little other internet footprint (older, non-tech industries, not web users, isolated by flappers, etc.) but even knowing T. Pufferton Smythe is at BigCo, BigCo guards its staff directory well enough that even a division phone number may not be available. Much less anything like a direct phone or email, or even region that Smythe might be in. > > It’s mostly a useful adjunct to other resources. “Oh, yeah, Smythe is at BigCo… I have a friend there who can look up his email for me.” I have 100s of connections all made through my free account. People who are direct to me and people who are 1 or 2 steps removed, through my contacts. I have never tried a truly blind contact, because for me it’s not necessary. It’s misleading to say you have to pay a premium to be able to use it. Plus, head hunters and recruiters with premium accounts and contact folks with free accounts, so you get that benefit. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/13 "2014-10-18T20:53:41Z")
Okay. It works great for you and the other users for whom it works great. I have 100s of people in my network who find it useless, or next to. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/14 "2014-10-18T20:56:09Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > The LinkedIn interface is [designed to encourage that error](https://getsatisfaction.com/linkedin/topics/why_does_linkedin_think_its_ok_to_trick_me_into_spamming_my_entire_gmail_address_book), and they’ve been sued for [allegedly accessing user contacts to spam them with invites](https://gigaom.com/2013/09/21/linkedin-is-breaking-into-user-emails-spamming-contacts-lawsuit/). Sounds about right. Every person I ever emailed through gmail was send a LinkedIn invite. I never imported my address or contacts list or _intentiionally_ allowed them to spam everybody. But somehow, it sent out shit to everyone. Even Afghani businessmen that I once sent an email to for random reasons. I was pretty pissed, and not I’m extra careful about clicking any buttons on that site. **kaylasdad99** , those invites you are getting are most likely the same thing. I don’t think they intentionally sent you an invite. They probably didn’t even know it happened. I didn’t know that everyone was spammed until some people started emailing me with “What the hell is LinkedIn. Who are you!?” and stuff like that. Just ignore it. …or sue them. Bastards. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/15 "2014-10-18T20:56:24Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Okay. It works great for you and the other users for whom it works great. > > I have 100s of people in my network who find it useless, or next to. I’m not trying to convince you it’s great. I’m just trying to counter misconceptions about the service for folks who may not have direct experience. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/16 "2014-10-18T21:19:10Z")
It’s like every other tool from AppleTalk to AA - it works for whom it works on tasks it’s good at, but it’s not for everyone and (in this case) it’s not a replacement for any other network or contact list tool I can think of. There are proponents who argue otherwise. My point to the OP is “your perceptions are not necessarily wrong, no matter how much the fans foam up about it.” I accept most invites from people who (1) ping me and (2) I know through some connection that makes the link reasonable. That does not include (3) link whores who are attempting to connect to, say, every marketing professional in New England whether they even speak the same language. I don’t even know how many contacts I have - it’s “many.” But it’s never been of the slightest use to me, and I am in a general population that it should be useful for. So: OP: it’s safe to ignore unless something really useful to you jumps out. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/17 "2014-10-19T01:30:39Z")
I always just assumed they were spam, and marked them as such. I don’t know what linkedin is nor do I care. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/18 "2014-10-19T02:31:34Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > The LinkedIn interface is [designed to encourage that error](https://getsatisfaction.com/linkedin/topics/why_does_linkedin_think_its_ok_to_trick_me_into_spamming_my_entire_gmail_address_book), and they’ve been sued for [allegedly accessing user contacts to spam them with invites](https://gigaom.com/2013/09/21/linkedin-is-breaking-into-user-emails-spamming-contacts-lawsuit/). Yes, this was all over the news several months ago. I have also gotten those spam invites from time to time. The especially dirty thing about them is that they are sent in the name of LI users (who typically don’t even know that their contacts are being spammed in their name), and the message (and even the From: address, IIRC) are made to look like the actual user sent it. So in a sense, LI is sending spam that is forged in the names of their users. No damn wonder LI users are pissed. According to articles I saw back then, many were canceling their LI accounts because of it. Oh, and suing LI too. I am surprised that they are still doing this shit. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/19 "2014-10-19T06:59:07Z")
I joined linkedin just to stop one of my co-workers from bugging me about it. I pretty much ignore most of the e-mails I receive from it. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729/20 "2014-10-19T13:38:51Z")
If people want me to add them, I do. Unless there’s no cookie and it asks for my password, which I don’t likely know. Lots of people call me experts in something or another. I don’t quite know the LinkedIn word for it, but essentially it means someone has vouched for my competence in something. I keep telling myself that someday I will return the favor, if I’m ever convinced that it was a favor in the first place. I get lots of recruiter spam from LinkedIn. I suppose I only consider it spam now because I’m gainfully employed, though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-linkedin/701729.md?page=2)