Comments on: Improved LinkedIn User Interface

By: IT|Redux - Contact Managers Roundup

IT|Redux - Contact Managers Roundup — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 02:42:58 +0000

[…] LinkedIn: This one defined the space for professional networking early on, then was copied and improved upon by OpenBC, later renamed Xing. It grew to a high-quality network rich of 9 million users, and should cross the bar of 10 million sometime in Q1 or early Q2 this year. Problem is, it’s not very sticky, in the sense that it does not provide any incentive for users to login on a regular basis, like they would with Facebook or MySpace, unless you happen to be a recruiter. My personal belief is that LinkedIn is sitting on a phenomenal untapped potential, which will be realized only when it adds group management features similar to what Xing has been developing all along. I just have no idea when this will happen though. In the meantime, you cannot really use LinkedIn to manage your contacts on its own, for it does not allow you to add information to contacts directly. Instead, it’s a very good companion to Microsoft Outlook as a way to create new connections, or lookup the last working email address for a contact who recently switched jobs. If you’re not using Microsoft Outlook, synchronization with your contact management application has to be done manually, which is a royal pain. I have been asking LinkedIn Corporation to add the LinkedIn unique ID to their standard CSV export about a gazillion times over the past two years, but have failed miserably so far. Note to Reid: please… […]

By: Ismael Ghalimi

Ismael Ghalimi — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 04:43:24 +0000

Konstantin,

Thanks for the clarification. Much appreciated.

By: Konstantin Guericke

Konstantin Guericke — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 04:22:12 +0000

I spoke with the hiring manager and he (a) disclosed to “Lucho” that he is friends with his current boss, (b) asked if it would be OK to ask his friend about him and (c) did not speak with his friend about Lucho when Lucho asked that he wouldn’t.

By: Ismael Ghalimi

Ismael Ghalimi — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:08:52 +0000

Lucho,

That’s a pretty major accusation… I’ll let the LinkedIn guys comment.

By: Lucho

Lucho — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 16:34:57 +0000

I did an interview with LinkedIn, and was surprised to learn that they went to see my boss to tell him I was looking around for another job. I thought that was very borderline and wanted to share that. Given what their business is, one could expect a minimum of ethic.

By: Ismael Ghalimi

Ismael Ghalimi — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 00:19:41 +0000

Konstantin,

In this case, please add LinkedIn IDs to the CSV contact export file, for reconciliation will become even more difficult when connections get broken without notification. Please…

By: Konstantin Guericke

Konstantin Guericke — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 00:13:27 +0000

We do listen, but different users ask for different things. The new inbox helps power users, but it also lays the foundation for facilitating more communication between members (especially those who are connections).

Since this may overwhelm those who have accepted connections from people they don’t know or care about, one of our next features is to allow members to break connections, so that people can right-size their direct networks to just the people they can and are willing to help (and who can and are willing to help them).