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Of all the Social* out there, LinkedIn seemed the most purpose driven. The real issue with it is that there is no benefit in being a member of it. It matters to
by wildmXranat 15y ago
Of all the Social* out there, LinkedIn seemed the most purpose driven. The real issue with it is that there is no benefit in being a member of it. It matters to firms and recruiters and if that wasn't shitty enough, LinkedIn will rank higher in search engine results for your name that something you might have published yourself. In return, I give employees bonus points for getting to the top of search results on their own, using their own skills and not a fill-in the blanks template profile site.
That correlates to my main question of: why is LinkedIn valuable to the tune of $35 / share? Is it because they just started to rake in some profits for the first time from their job listing service ? Is it the secondmarket hype ? Is it because Sequoia capital has it in their best interest ? Maybe it's just because they re-branded their service as hiring solutions, added value to advertisers and rode the wave that Facebook created.
Do away with it and invest time in making an employee/career profile for yourself. It's a joke how LinkedIn is more of the same that didn't work for employees in the past.
- corin_ 15y agoWhy is it worth $x? Simply put, because that's what they will be able to sell at. As to why that is, one could argue that it is in part because of a tech bubble, but the most obvious and simple reason is indeed the rate of growth in their revenue and profit. I do disagree with your view that there is no benefit to being on LinkedIn. Personally, both my personal website (very low traffic bio site with a few blog posts) and twitter account are ranked above LinkedIn, and I like that LinkedIn is ranked third (that's for a search of my name on Google). I've never hired or been hired through LinkedIn, but people I want to work with (usually future clients) and people who consider working with me (again, clients) can look me up, and my LinkedIn page helps verify who I am, and what I do, they can see a few endorsements people have given me, and often they can see who they know that knows me. Also, after meeting someone at an event, a follow up LinkedIn reequest reminds them who you are and helps connect your face to your business card - and visa versa, helps you connect their face/job/etc to their card.
- ThomPete 15y agoAs far as I am aware LinkedIn have been profitable for a while even before the news features. They have 100 Million users Loads of data It's invaluable for employers like myself. I have several times been contacted with regards to jobs by recruiters and I can see they went to my account. It's a great verification tool Their API's are pretty cool. To me LinkedIn is the one social network that shuts up and just let me build relationships without asking me to participate every day. So I think your characterization is unfair and wrong. LinkedIn is going to be around for a long time.
- lwhi 15y agoThey have 100 million users because it's impossible to close an account.
- blankenship 15y agoIt's not impossible at all; I closed my account last year. https://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/63 https://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/63
- lwhi 15y agoI found it impossible to do so some years ago, and my account has been left dormant ever since as a result. I'm sure I'm not the only person who faced this problem.
- ThomPete 15y agoWhy would you want to close your account? That's like throwing out your rolodex.
- mrgordon 15y agoYES! It was impossible for me to close my account. I emailed them repeatedly and they claimed my account was closed. Then someone sent me a message (because my account was still appearing on the site..) and it REOPENED my account and I started getting email about it again. LinkedIn is the WORST.