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August 17, 2007

Don't call it a comeback!

Is it me, or is LinkedIn making a mad crazy comeback in the last month?

I've been a member (thanks to one Miss Kay Daly, girl reporter) of LinkedIn since early 2004. It seemed to make sense in concept, and according to my archived invites to people to join, I think I've actually been involved in some offline hooking up of jobs on its behalf. In my mind, it's never really taken off because of all of the types of networking, job recommendations are most sacred. It's one thing to recommend a hair dresser - if it doesn't work out, hair grows back. Blind dates? No problem. But to directly or indirectly recommend someone for a job - that can come directly back to haunt your very own career.

But lately, I've been getting emails daily from folks to "connect on LinkedIn." I have to hypothesize that this is mostly due to the huge Facebook craze, and the media's misinformed (ok, maybe watered down, but still) constant usage of the two websites in the same category.

Regardless, interesting that it's suddenly exploded some 3.5 years later. We'll see if the site suddenly becomes more useful with the influx of membership. The reasons I can't see it ever truly being what it claims to be:

- People lie and embellish.
- The "recommendation" feature is parallel to the testimonial/comments feature on Friendster, and similarly, when someone writes one for you, you should write one in return. Only, I can't think of anything less reliable than a reference borne out of obligation.
- Like any online job site, current co-workers and employers can see your status. So if you are truly in need of a job search tool and it's on the DL, you can't make that known without everyone knowing. Yes, you could exclude your co-workers from your connection list, but you never know who on your list knows someone you work with. If it's on the web it's out.

The reasons I think Facebook actually does a better job of what LinkedIn is supposed to do:

- You never know where your next opportunity is going to come from. But I assure you that your chances are best when your network is engaged. Facebook's tools allow you to stay passively or actively involved with people you know on a purely social (non-threatening, non-blatantly about get me a job) level on a regular basis. As for people whose job prospects are thwarted by photos of them doing kegstands on their Facebook page? Don't get me started again about personal responsibility...

Posted by nikl at August 17, 2007 01:06 PM

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