LinkedIn (Temporarily) Backs Down After Uproar At Contact Export Removal 42
Mark Wilson writes: LinkedIn caused a storm a couple of days ago when it removed the option to instantly download contacts. Many users of the professional social network were more than a little irked to discover that while contact exporting was still available, a wait of up to three days had been put in place. Unsurprisingly, users revolted, having been particularly upset by the fact the change was implemented with no warning or announcement. But the company has managed to turn things around by quickly backtracking on its decision after listening to a stream of complaints on Twitter.
Really? (Score:1)
Users can't be surprised by a company who makes money by having them use their site to maintain lists of professional contacts and eventually decides having a feature that can instantly export their contacts (and allow them to leave the site completely) might not be a good idea.
Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty dirty move to just up and do that, and a 3 day wait to export a list of contacts?? That's entirely unreasonable.
BUT..... put yourself in their seat. do you really want to make it that easy and pain
Re:Really? (Score:5, Interesting)
It's surprising because Google came to the opposite conclusion [wikipedia.org]. A lock-in keeps current users, but it also slows down the arrival of new users, so it's a short-term vs long-term tradeoff.
Oh and more! (Score:2, Interesting)
Signing up, they want your contact information from your email client. WTF! And people give it to them!!
And what sucks is that email addresses that I reserve for family and friends is now on LinkIN's site. I once created an account with my professional email and they knew exactly what my other email accounts were.
And then there is the spam. And the folks who look at your profile and yet are able to hide their identities. And the recruiters who have a great opportunity and after sending them a resume, the
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Really? (Score:2)
If the alternative is unemployment (Score:2)
Some people must have a high tolerance for this sort of treatment.
If the alternative is unemployment, which leads to starvation due to inability to afford food and imprisonment due to violations of city sit-lie ordinances, a lot of people are willing to tolerate a lot of BS.
Their API switch over was messy too. (Score:5, Informative)
Export of contacts is their prodict (Score:5, Interesting)
removal of the regular download option had been "part of our ongoing efforts to combat the inappropriate export of member data by third parties." As a result of the vocal outpouring of disapproval, instant CSV exporting is back...
I have to wonder who outpoured disapproval? It doesn't seem like something most users would care about.
On the other hand, headhunters who use LinkedIn as a site for harvesting resumes would be angry. But isn't that the whole point of LinkedIn? To give recruiters your contact info so they can spam you?
It wouldn't surprise me if this was just a publicity stunt.
Re: (Score:3)
... But isn't that the whole point of LinkedIn? To give recruiters your contact info so they can spam you?
/quote> The point of LinkedIn is to give them your contact info so that Linked can spam all your friends, family, acquaintances, their dogs and cats. If random third party affiliates, channel partners and other assorted anonymous entities that are always pitching "new and exciting" (exciting to them) products muscle in on to their game, Linked in would be upset. No?
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Re:Export of contacts is their prodict (Score:4, Funny)
Spamwwise scam, gee.
Wait... (Score:3)
Linked in is still relevant?
I have yet to meet ANYONE that has found linked in to be useful in any way. 99% of the "employers" are headhunters that are doing shotgun requests.
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I've gotten at least two jobs via linkedin. One when a former business contact posted a job description and other when a recruiter reached to me.
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Relevance (Score:3)
LinkedIn was ever relevant?
Yes. Aside from Facebook and maybe Twitter it's probably the most relevant social networking site out there right now and it is top of the heap for business networking. I have no relationship with LinkedIn aside from being a periodic user but it is demonstrably pretty useful and very relevant in business networking.
but I'd never consider using them to find people to hire
Why not? I have and it works pretty well. I've found people I needed to talk to for technical problems, found job opportunities, found people to hire and had others find me for those same pur
LinkedIn is very useful for business networking (Score:2)
I have yet to meet ANYONE that has found linked in to be useful in any way.
I don't mean to be snide but if you think this then you are Doing It Wrong. LinkedIn can be absurdly useful and not just for recruiters. Speaking for myself, I've started and run a number of businesses. It's given me a great way to find specific people I need to talk to in companies I don't deal with every day or in large companies where finding specific people is difficult. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find the right engineer in a specific part of a company as large as GM to get a technical q
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The GP is one of those incredibly self-centered shit-faces who assume that if it's not relevant to them, it must not be relevant to anyone.
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You could try leaving your bubble once in a while. In Israel, to give one example, LinkedIn is how you find a job when you don't have a personal network. Considering the number of immigrants coming each year, it's practically a necessity.
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I have yet to meet ANYONE that has found linked in to be useful in any way. 99% of the "employers" are headhunters that are doing shotgun requests.
Hello, I'm Mark. Glad to meet you. I've gotten two of my last three jobs via LinkedIn and have helped at least two other people get jobs via contacts I made there. I found funding for a non-profit I'm with there. It's also my primary communication method for business associates with which I don't wish to socialize.
Like pretty much everything else on the Internet, LinkedIn is a tool. Just because YOU don't know how to use it doesn't mean it's not useful.
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I used to believe this BEFORE i joined Linked-In. After many years of my eternal search for a living wage in America, I decided I might as well bight the bullet and see if there was any value in Linked-IN.
Now I KNOW for a fact that I'm just being shot-gunned by recruiters -- before that it was just a theory.
However, if no recruiters are actually hiring anyone they find on Linked-In, how long before they realize it's just a place for them to blow smoke and dangle promising job opportunities in front of despe
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> I have yet to meet ANYONE that has found linked in to be useful in any way
--I re-initiated contact with an old friend a few years ago after finding her on LinkedIn. Other than that, an old recruiter got me into it. Admittedly, I don't use it much anymore these days - but it has come in handy.
LinkedIn is not a social network (Score:2)
Woe betide you if you link with a recruitment agent because they will indiscriminately spam everyone who matches a keyword search. Repeatedly and often. These days I simple ignore all invites from agents and unlinked those that I made previously. If an agent is desperate to speak with me they can use one of their precious in-mails. That said, I've had these dummies send me an inmail telling me of "a role I may be interested
LinkedIn is shit (Score:1)
LinkedIn is shit.
The only way it could be made worse is if it was purchased by Dice Holdings.
Dice Holdings juggles my nuts on the chin of the Dice Holdings C-level executives.
LinkedIn is sleazy (Score:2)
The whole site is dedicated to outrageous pricing for marginal return. (Even Jeff Weiner's own LinkedIn page only has seven (7) recommendations.)
The angle they use is this: What's it worth to you to get a job? Ok, then pay us exorbitant monthly amounts on the slim chance that you mi
Their rights to your data (Score:2)
Isn't it fun to know that a company took your contact data and now considers it THEY have more right to the people you link to than YOU do?
Perhaps Linked-IN considers me a data hoarding parasite, trying to beg for jobs while they do the important work of spamming everybody I will potentially know 20 years in the future.
I've currently got a junk email account I used to register with LinkedIN and I've received job offers to repackage packages from the year 2044.