I promise my fascination with LinkedIn freaks will end shortly - really - but managing a popular LinkedIn group has given me a unique insight into the world of people obsessed with LinkedIn dominance ("dominance" being defined as linking to as many people as possible, regardless of whether you known them or not).
Today I got a request to join the Online Lead Generation group from a woman who had SEO'd her LinkedIn profile as a way of trying to show up in more searches on Linkedin. I'm sure she is not alone in doing this, so let me congratulate her for being one of the innovators of a new field - Linked Optimization, LEO for short (perhaps appropriately, many of these LEO fanatics are proud members of "LION", which is a designation that is suppose to indicate that you are well-connected but is instead a sure-fire sign that this person will not be accepted to any group I run . . .).
So here's the "LinkedIn Keywords" that this person uses in her profile. I am grabbing this directly, no editing whatsoever: #5 TopLinked in San Diego, TopLinked.com, My LinkedIn Power Forum, MyLinkedinPowerForum.com, My Linking Power Forum, MyLinkingPowerForum.com, MLPF, MyLink500, MyLink500.com, LinkedIn Open Networker, Linked In Open Networker, LION, promiscuous networker, promiscuous linker, accept your invitation, accept your invitations, accept your invite, accept your invites, accept all invitations, accept all invites, all invitations accepted, all invites accepted, welcome all invitations, welcome all invites, all invitations welcome, all invitations welcomed, all invites welcome, all invites welcomed, invite me, send me an invitation, connect to me, connect with me, let's connect, let's link up, link to me, link with me, email me, contact me, no IDK's, no IDKs, no I Don't Knows, no I Don't Know's, no "I Don't Know" responses, 500+ connections, 1000+ connections, 1500+ connections, 2000+ connections, 2500+ connections, 3000+ connections, 3500+ connections, goal = 5000+ connections, @gmail.com, @hotmail.com, @yahoo.com, @aol.com
Imagine if LinkedIn wasn't a networking site but rather a dating site. Replace "networker" and "invitation" with "dater" and "dates" and you may soon get a request from Elliot Spitzer (I'll pile on him like everyone else)! Sad, sad, sad.
LinkedInsanity Part II: LEO (LinkedIn Optimization)
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1 comments:
Gosh there are some real Nutballs out there! Dave I can't agree with you more. I simply won't "connect" with people that I don't know, trust, or recommend. Which is assumed if I am connected to them? Perhaps not as folks connect with more and more complete strangers.
However, often I find myself searching LinkedIN for a name, or any person, at a company I am prospecting.
If I am not using LinkedIn to stay in touch with friends (I use the real world *gasp* and FaceBook for that) then perhaps connecting with strangers doesn't diminish the value of my network? The more connections, the larger my public directory of individuals and their employers, and more ppl I can get in touch with when looking for a personal contact.
...guess it depends on what you want to get out of having a large or small network.
BRoth
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