I’m usually quite a proponent of LinkedIn, as readers of my weblog are aware, but I find it quite fascinating that the desire to have the LinkedIn site ranked highly in an influential BusinessWeek Best Of the Web poll is showing a bit of the seamy underbelly of online networking.
Four times in the past week I’ve received email from one of my LinkedIn connections asking me to pop over to the BusinessWeek poll and vote for LinkedIn to help it rank well in the results. The intention is splendid and the slightly questionable tactic of trying to either (depending on your viewpoint) encourage voter turnout or stuff the virtual ballot boxes is no different from many of the other nominated sites posting “vote for us” articles too (even Om Malik, one of my touchstones for professionalism in the business blog space, couldn’t resist when he added “Vote for GigaOM” to his busy weblog).
Ordinarily, receiving four messages like this in the never-ending tsunami of email I get every day wouldn’t be worthy of note, but I find it quite fascinating that…
LinkedIn is, in concept, a good idea for personal networking. However, any employers, recruiters and individuals using this tool to obtain information on potential employees are most likely liable for any comments. In addition, this is suspect in terms of EEOC and diversity issues. Legally, it is a bad idea to use LinkedIn as a source of employment verification/information. I can foresee many employers and individuals being in the legal process very soon. In sum, keep LinkedIn and all such tools in the friendship contact mode and avoid legal issues that will come!
Comment by Anonymous — September 29, 2005 @ 8:40 am