LinkedIn is a core part of my social media strategy. Well, I say strategy, but what I really mean is I like using it. A few of the things I enjoy most include: The ability to connect with more than 5000 people. I’m currently connected to 14,791 people who in turn connect me to almost 27,000,000 professionals. the ability to meet someone that I want to meet through one of my connections the ability to form and maintain a group that I control. I have over 7500 members in my Twitter Power for Business group. the ability to send InMail to people who I may not be connected to, but that I really want to reach. This feature alone makes it worth paying the monthly upgrade fee, in my humble opinion. the ability to publish and reach more people with my content. It’s superior to status updates in every way. However, there are some things that frustrate me about LinkedIn. I’m not talking about functionality, but I’m referring to the way in which some members use the site. It’s amazing how many simple social media best practices are violated every day. So, with no further ado I present five things that really chap my hide. Names and personal info has been blacked out to protect the guilty. I am leaving the photos because it’s my article and I like pictures. 1) No Profile Picture Unless you don’t have a face, are invisble or look like a silhouette to others, please upload a picture for all to see. It’s social media, and it’s good business. 2) Contacting me for business that doesn’t relate to what I do I’ve got no problem with receiving joint venture and business proposals on LinkedIn. I even state clearly that I am open to receiving such proposals. But solicitations which demonstrate laziness on the behalf of the sender just fill up my inbox. Is this really necessary? 3) Hitting me up with business “opportunities” Gee, I can be a mystery shopper? I’m just going to shut down all my websites and head to Target. What ever happened to the good old days of getting paid to stuff envelopes? 4) Sending me your digital business card If we agree to exchange information, email better serves this purpose. And doesn’t LinkedIn already provide me with what I need to know about you should I decide to engage? Annoying. 5) Asking me for a recommendation if we’ve not done any business together I don’t mean to be harsh with the student who sent me this request, but I get these from older professionals who should know better. If you send me a request to connect, you give me permission to ask you for a recommendation. But if you send me a request to connect and we’ve not done business together, what’s the point? What am I going to recommend you for? Perhaps your ability to receive kudos for doing absolutely nothing? Can you relate to any of these? Are you guilty of doing any of these things? What other behavior on LinkedIn annoys you? Please leave your comments below!
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