Linked Intelligence » LinkedIn News

Tip from the LinkedIn Rockstars – Helping LinkedIn Improve

Lori Ruff, The LinkedIn Diva — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:30:46 +0000

There is a new option on LinkedIn that lets you tell LinkedIn that the position you are adding to your profile is one for which you used LinkedIn to find, research or connect to someone that helped you get the position. As seen in the screen shot, your answer will be kept private, but checking the box will let LinkedIn know they had a hand in your career progression, giving them bragging rights when they can say so many numbers of people or a certain percentage of new positions being added to profiles were obtained through LinkedIn.

Disclosing this information can help LinkedIn in several ways, not just for bragging rights, but to also track success and eventually methods of job procurement, perhaps helping them help recruiters, hiring managers and job seekers with information that will help others in their search as well. It’s too early to tell, but it should be fine to disclose whether the position you are adding to your profile really did happen because of your activities on LinkedIn.

SEC Charges Adviser with Defrauding Investors via LinkedIn

Scott Allen — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:25:33 +0000

On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Chicago-area investment adviser, Anthony Fields, with fraudulently promoting more than $500 billion in fictitious securities on several social media sites, including LinkedIn, and issued two alerts and an investor bulletin regarding the risks investors and advisory firms face when using social media.

“Fraudsters are quick to adapt to new technologies to exploit them for unlawful purposes,” said Robert B. Kaplan, Co-Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit. “Social media is no exception, and today’s enforcement action reflects our determination to pursue fraudulent activity on new and evolving platforms.”

The SEC order against Fields alleges he made multiple fraudulent offers through his two sole proprietorships – Anthony Fields & Associates (AFA) and Platinum Securities Brokers. He provided false and misleading information to the public regarding assets under management, clients and operational history. Fields also did not maintain required records, failed to implement adequate compliance policies and procedures, and presented himself as a broker-dealer though not registered with the SEC as one.

The SEC has issued three new publications for both investment advisers and investors:

“Investment Adviser Use of Social Media” reviews concerns that may arise from use of social media by firms and their associates, and offers suggestions for complying with relevant federal securities laws.

“Social Media and Investing: Avoiding Fraud” aims to raise investor awareness of fraudulent investment schemes that use social media, and provides tips for checking the backgrounds of advisers and brokers.

“Social Media and Investing: Understanding Your Accounts” contains best practices including privacy settings, security tips, and password selection aimed to help social media users protect their personal information and avoid fraud.

For additional information on avoiding securities fraud, visit the SEC’s website for individual investors: www.investor.gov.

Forbes Says LinkedIn Over-Valued, Stock Hits 52-Week Low

Scott Allen — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 06:02:51 +0000

LinkedIn (LNKD) stock hit a 52-week low on Monday, hitting as low as $56.45 and closing at $60.00. The price has been sliding for the past month in light of rumors of a Facebook IPO, insiders cashing out at the end of the lock-up period and mixed opinions from analysts. Today’s Forbes blog post, LinkedIn Would Be Fairly Valued at $43, just added fuel to the fire, triggering highly volatile trading on Monday.

At the same time as the analysts are calling LNKD “rich”, they’re also upbeat about LinkedIn’s future, citing their 60% year-over-year growth, still-high unemployment and LinkedIn’s focus on bringing in more paying small business customers. Forbes/Trefis offers some additional explanation about how LinkedIn benefits from a weaker economy and unemployment:

Despite the persisting unemployment rate of around 9%, there are still 3.4 million jobs available as of September 2011, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This situation favors LinkedIn, which offers a unique platform for professional networking where employers and potential employees can interact and communicate. The company also saw increased visibility when it hosted President Obama’s ambitious $447 billion Jobs Act back in September.

LinkedIn to Host President Obama Virtual Town Hall: Putting America Back to Work

Scott Allen — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:19:32 +0000

The White House and LinkedIn jointly announced this week that President Obama will be participating in a virtual Town Hall meeting using LinkedIn next Monday:

On Monday, September 26th, President Obama will travel to Mountain View, California to participate in “Putting America Back to Work: LinkedIn Presents a Town Hall with President Obama.” At the town hall, the President will answer questions about job creation and the economy from a live audience made up of LinkedIn members and employees, as well as questions that have been submitted from LinkedIn members across the country.

In conjunction with the President’s visit, LinkedIn has launched a community focused on job creation and the economy [Putting America Back to Work 2011]. Through this group, people are invited to join the conversation with President Obama by submitting questions for the town hall, contributing comments, and sharing content with their own network. This group will serve as a platform for LinkedIn users to continue the discussion on putting America back to work and provide opportunities for LinkedIn members to engage with the White House and Administration officials following the town hall. People can submit questions for the President HERE and watch the town hall live on LinkedIn and WhiteHouse.gov/live.

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with more than 120 million members worldwide. At “Putting America Back to Work: LinkedIn Presents a Town Hall with President Obama,” the President will hear directly from LinkedIn members who range from small business owners and employees to community college students to veterans.

LinkedIn Signal Lighting Up the Online Conversation

Lori Ruff, The LinkedIn Diva — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 02:25:07 +0000

There is so much possibility in the new LinkedIn Signal I’ve had to write several blog posts to cover all the great material. #LinkedIn “Signal Me Relevant”! started the conversation. This is installment #2.

I discussed the power being in the relevant search of real time communications across platforms: LinkedIn and Twitter. The turbo charged power comes in the ability to effectively filter through all the noise to boil the stream of conversations by members of a group, an industry, a location, a company, a school, by time posted, or by hashtags (tags).

Here’s where we talk Strategy. I also shared an example of why that is important. There are so many scenarios for so many professional roles. It is going to be very important for users to take a look at which Twitter accounts are connected and what they are tweeting on those accounts.

Many people ask me questions about privacy and the appropriateness of specific communications on specific platforms. The reality is this: if you are in business, you must share your professional life online to find the greatest success you can achieve. The second reality: It does matter what you post, no matter which platform you are on.

When you post anything online, you leave a digital footprint that in essence leave bread crumbs for people to follow back to you. a case in point: last week when I had been conversing with someone on Twitter. Through Hootsuite‘s Insights, I was able to see his other social networking platforms and reach out to him on LinkedIn. He accepted the invitation but was confused as to how I found him since the two were not directly connected.

I believe that Signal will make the importance of appropriate communications even more important. You are out there. Join the conversation. Make connections. Build relationships. Use the powerful tools available now to enhance your performance. The playing field is leveled. Grab the ball and run with it!

LinkedIn Snags Yahoo’s Top UI Designer Kevin Bury

Scott Allen — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:57:02 +0000

No official announcement from LinkedIn yet, but according to his personal blog, Yahoo! Director of User Experience Kevin Bury is leaving Yahoo! and going to LinkedIn:

On April 14th I’ll be starting my new gig as Principal Designer at LinkedIn. I’ve been a huge fan of LinkedIn for years. The potential seems enormous and I think it will be challenging and fun.

LinkedIn has undergone some major user interface changes recently. With the pending arrival of OpenSocial integration and an ever-growing feature list, LinkedIn is facing a challenge of maintaining usability while providing access to more and more information.

It’s the weekend, and I haven’t yet been able to reach anyone for comment, but presumably he’ll be working closely with Steve Ganz, Principal Web Developer at LinkedIn, who spearheaded the recent redesign.

UPDATE (Sunday 9:30 pm): LinkedIn spokesperson Kay Luo confirmed that Kevin is joining the LinkedIn team and that Steve Ganz will be continuing in his role as well.

Image: Kevin Bury profile on LinkedIn.com

My Apologies to LinkedIn

Scott Allen — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:12:40 +0000

In my recent post, Getting to Know the Folks at LinkedIn, I made this statement:

What’s clear to me from my conversations with Steve and Mario, as well as past conversations with Patrick Crane and others, plus looking at the latest new features from LinkedIn, is that the main customers they are listening to right now are their corporate customers.

I can’t take back what I said, and I’m not going to edit/delete it — once it’s out there, it’s out there — but I am going to qualify it: LinkedIn did not say this to me — I’m reading between the lines in the context of their latest releases, and I may have gotten it wrong. According to Mario Sundar:

As I outlined to you during our chat, our priority remains the 20 million unique professionals (as of Mar 2008) who use LinkedIn.

The blog is one of the key ways we maintain that two-way conversation with these users and my favorite part is that some of these conversations result in new features (http://tinyurl.com/26c4bs).

And, it’s always good to hear users’ positive response to these as well (http://tinyurl.com/ynovgw).

As I said in the previous post, LinkedIn has a lot of input coming their way — I’m sure it’s a bit overwhelming at times.

My only caveat to this is that speculation like mine comes about because LinkedIn isn’t answering these questions themselves. They’re talking to some of their users via the blogs, their luncheons, etc., and to the media. I know it’s impossible to answer questions from 20 million users, but publicly responding to some of the tough questions would, I think, be very helpful to LinkedIn users and good PR for LinkedIn.

Image: Nara Vieira da Silva Osga via stock.xchng

Getting to Know the Folks at LinkedIn

Scott Allen — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 04:38:41 +0000

Since I don’t live in Silicon Valley and don’t attend a lot of tech conferences, I haven’t previously had a chance to meet any of the people at LinkedIn in person. But I attended SXSW a couple of weeks ago and had the pleasure of meeting Steve Ganz (right), Principal Web Developer at LinkedIn, and Mario Sundar (left), LinkedIn’s Community Evangelist, who you may recognize as the lead blogger on the official LinkedIn blog.

Steve spoke on a panel about using social networks to build your personal brand (summary/commentary at The Email Wars). Mario was on a panel about corporate blogging (afterthoughts from Mario and a great summary from Scott Monty).

I had a chance to visit with each of them after their panel. Besides just getting to know them personally (Steve loves frisbee golf), I also got a little more insight into what’s going on at LinkedIn.

Those of us who are out here evangelizing LinkedIn and participating in power user communities like MyLinkedInPowerForum have, frankly, a very self-absorbed view of what LinkedIn is doing. Don’t get me wrong — that’s OK. We’re the customer, and it’s only natural that we think about LinkedIn in terms of ourselves and whether or not it’s serving our needs.

But when you look at it from your own point of view, it’s not difficult to end up at the conclusion that “LinkedIn isn’t listening to its users”. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We just have to remember that there are over 20 million of them, and the group of us who actively blog about LinkedIn and discuss it on forums are somewhat of an echo chamber.

Editor’s note, 4/1/2008: In the section that follows, I’m leaving the text I wrote originally, because I believe in “owning your words”. But the following may make it look like LinkedIn employees said things that in fact they didn’t say. I was reading between the lines and speculating. I’ve since apologized.

What’s clear to me from my conversations with Steve and Mario, as well as past conversations with Patrick Crane and others, plus looking at the latest new features from LinkedIn, is that the main customers they are listening to right now are their corporate customers. Many people may not realize that LinkedIn has a dedicated Corporate Solutions Group that provides dedicated account managers, training and so on.

It’s also apparent from my conversations that there are a lot of voices talking to the design team. There are now well over 200 people working at LinkedIn. They’re getting input from customer service, marketing, investors, corporate solutions and so on.

Personally, I still think LinkedIn could do a better job of incorporating input from all of its customers, and I hope they’ll take steps in that direction. But I’m also now a bit more understanding about pressures they’re going through being in a high-growth stage and needing to focus on their largest source of revenue, which is their corporate customers, not the millions of people who use it for free. I think they have to service the free customers too, because their presence their is much of what creates the value for the paying customers, but I certainly appreciate their need to prioritize what their corporate customers are asking for.

Images: LinkedIn.com

Bill Gates – LinkedIn In, Facebook Out

Scott Allen — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 21:51:13 +0000

The big buzz in social networking last week was that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has finally joined LinkedIn (as an interesting aside, he was previously the most searched-for name on LinkedIn). This seems especially surprising since Microsoft made a substantial investment in Facebook last year.

It all started with a report last month in British tabloid The Sun, which led with this blurb:

Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates has had to delete his Facebook account after being hassled by thousands of fans.

According to the report, Gates was spending half an hour a day on Facebook, “but he signed off after getting more than 8,000 friend requests a DAY, and spotted weird fan sites about him.”

Chalk one up for so-called “open networking”! It doesn’t scale, and it doesn’t work for people who have better things to do with their time than spend all day on social networking sites. According to CNN, one of the reasons he agreed to try LinkedIn was that it “offers privacy controls that will enable Gates to block requests to connect with him on the network.” Gates currently only has 4 connections on the site.

Last week, though, Gates decided to give social networking another try… at LinkedIn. Check out his profile, where you’ll learn, among other things, that he enjoys tennis and bridge.

What prompted this apparent change of heart?

Charity.

Gates wants to use the Answers section to solicit input on how to further his philanthropic work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates kicked it off with the following question:

How can we do more to encourage young people to pursue careers in science and technology?

At last count there are over 3,500 replies, most of which are well-thought and creative. I don’t know where else he could have gotten that kind of quantity and quality of responses.

The question is still open, so it’s not too late to add your answer.

Images: Microsoft Corporation, LinkedIn.com

LinkedIn Connections 1-19-2008

Scott Allen — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:51:39 +0000

Educational Value of Social Media

Adam Metz presents the value proposition for social media for educators and some tips for how early adopters can “sell it” to their team. Interesting factoid regarding LinkedIn:

“Education management is one of the top five fastest growing segments on our network,” said LinkedIn’s director of corporate communications, Kay Luo. The “education management” category includes classroom teachers.

Has LinkedIn Lost Its Soul to Growth?

Silicon Valley’s favorite insider gossip rag Valleywag has an insider’s first-hand account of some goings-on at LinkedIn, “and it’s not pretty.” You can read the details for yourself, but in summary:

By concentrating on growth, and only growth, LinkedIN has exploded to almost three hundred employees in the last year. [...] This means that LinkedIN is undergoing an identity crisis internally. Deathly afraid of looking weak, or having made the wrong decision, upper management has closed ranks, ruthlessly squashing individual contributors who rock the boat, or even question bad hiring decisions. [...] Fortunately, LinkedIN has a good brand, one that has a lot of value. And that can make up for a lot of bad choices.

In a follow-up, the Wag reports that one of the directors involved in one of the incidents was fired over it.

Generic Invitations Aren’t Welcome

While the visibility of the top megaconnectors might lead you to believe otherwise, not everyone in the HR industry believes in connecting with anybody and everybody. Barbara Safani of Career Solvers has 123 connections and says that the generic invitation “just isn’t doing it” for her:

And please don’t take the easy way out and assume I will click on the link to your profile. Explain in the body of your email why I should connect to someone I don’t know and what the possible professional synergies are. That will capture my attention and make you much more credible in my eyes.

LinkedIn users should stop mining data and start creating authentic relationships on-line that can eventually lead to valuable professional partnerships. That’s the way to optimize its value.