3 ms·

Post author here. Thanks for the comment. I just got a response to on Twitter from @grayj_ , saying "Making a KPI go up will often get you a bonus or a promoti

Post author here. Thanks for the comment. I just got a response to on Twitter from @grayj_ , saying "Making a KPI go up will often get you a bonus or a promotion; advocating good UX won't." However sad, I suspect this is the reality of LinkedIn being a large and slow corporation. Unfortunately :(

benmanns 13y ago
Why not make % accepted requests the KPI instead of # sent requests? The former would encourage a message for every request. The latter encourages mass emails to address books, accidental requests, etc.
- notahacker 13y ago
  The former is strategy is user-friendly. The latter strategy is metric-which-impresses-investors friendly. There's a reason social networks spam more than Viagra merchants.
  - 001sky 13y ago
    There's a reason social networks spam more than Viagra merchants. LinkedIn is pretty bad on this. Just when you think youve opted out of every mailing list, its seems like they invent or create some new 'feature' which opts you in. Again.
- kirillzubovsky 13y ago
  Interesting, even from the comments it seems people either blankly accept all the requests or don't accept them at all. Somewhat related - I remember reading that when Facebook engineer decided to add a message feature to a friend request, Zuck got really pissed at him. I suspect that's because "# of connections" is a really hot metric, and it grows exponentially for people who blankly accept every request. Thus, from LIN point of view, it makes sense to sacrifice UX for some people to get a sure growth for everyone else. Now, if that "growth" is just a vanity metric, now that's a whole other story.
pscsbs 13y ago
Hi, engineer at LinkedIn here. As much as it might seem corporate propaganda, LinkedIn really emphasizes a "members first" attitude in engineering. Engineers frequently get commended for decreasing spam, improving UX, and securing member data. I guarantee this post will be reviewed tomorrow, and we'll discuss how to improve the flow for connecting with new LinkedIn members from the "People You May Know" feature. Please keep the feedback coming. :)
- computer 13y ago
  Why do I, after several years of people complaining, still have to log in to unsubscribe from your however many different types of emails? And even logging in after clicking "Unsubscribe" doesn't unsubscribe you: you then have to go to options and find whatever caused the email yourself. For a company that puts members first, that seems very member unfriendly. But it does mean more emails to users, which no doubt increases some metrics.

benmanns 13y ago

Why not make % accepted requests the KPI instead of # sent requests? The former would encourage a message for every request. The latter encourages mass emails to address books, accidental requests, etc.

notahacker 13y ago
The former is strategy is user-friendly. The latter strategy is metric-which-impresses-investors friendly. There's a reason social networks spam more than Viagra merchants.
- 001sky 13y ago
  There's a reason social networks spam more than Viagra merchants. LinkedIn is pretty bad on this. Just when you think youve opted out of every mailing list, its seems like they invent or create some new 'feature' which opts you in. Again.
kirillzubovsky 13y ago
Interesting, even from the comments it seems people either blankly accept all the requests or don't accept them at all. Somewhat related - I remember reading that when Facebook engineer decided to add a message feature to a friend request, Zuck got really pissed at him. I suspect that's because "# of connections" is a really hot metric, and it grows exponentially for people who blankly accept every request. Thus, from LIN point of view, it makes sense to sacrifice UX for some people to get a sure growth for everyone else. Now, if that "growth" is just a vanity metric, now that's a whole other story.

pscsbs 13y ago

Hi, engineer at LinkedIn here. As much as it might seem corporate propaganda, LinkedIn really emphasizes a "members first" attitude in engineering. Engineers frequently get commended for decreasing spam, improving UX, and securing member data. I guarantee this post will be reviewed tomorrow, and we'll discuss how to improve the flow for connecting with new LinkedIn members from the "People You May Know" feature. Please keep the feedback coming. :)

computer 13y ago
Why do I, after several years of people complaining, still have to log in to unsubscribe from your however many different types of emails? And even logging in after clicking "Unsubscribe" doesn't unsubscribe you: you then have to go to options and find whatever caused the email yourself. For a company that puts members first, that seems very member unfriendly. But it does mean more emails to users, which no doubt increases some metrics.