We put it out to you & asked the question - what do you like or dislike about LinkedIn?

We were surprised what we found....

I’ve been a member of LinkedIn since 2007. I was invited to start blogging on LinkedIn before it was open to everyone and it's a popular tool - I seem to get people I don't know wanting to connect to me everyday.

Tim Chapman, Creative Director of TimeZoneOne managed to drum up about 8000 followers in about 2 weeks with a little experiment he called 'LinkTim' to see how many followers he could get on LinkedIn …he’s currently up to 44,402!

So (ironically) we put it out to all our Facebook contacts….what do you LIKE or DISLIKE about LinkedIn?

And we got A LOT of feedback…..

Let's see:

Ugly as sin, and the ugly gets in the way.

The "feed' is pretty random and useless.

The groups run nicely in some cases and have some useful info.

Quite convenient for finding people after conferences and reminding you who the person who gave your their card actually was.

It seems to be bad social media with an overall reasonable idea. - Dan (Software Architect / Engineering Director)

That it's pretty useless unless you pay. - Jordan (Engineer)

Never understood what it's about and still don't. All I see is people barking. - Dean (Account Manager)

I imagine it's a good tool for recruiters, other than that there seem to be quite a lot of 'creative’ CVs’. - Dan (Recruiter)

It's like an online cv portal. I use it for checking out possible employees or peeps we're meeting for work. Apart from that, a bit too congested these days with business's content. - Jo (Business Development Manager)

I don't like that if you pay you can see "everyone" that has viewed your profile, but that those people can chose to be displayed as "anonymous". Kinda defeats the purpose. - Nick (IT Project Manager)

Groups which aren't moderated ---> 90% of the spam I see these days. Abandoned CVs - usually moved to new company and can't access their profiles since they only put their work email on. Abandoned CVs - category ‘tragically died young’ and now we get annual updates on how many years they've been with their employer *uncomfortable*. - Peter (Actuary)

People treating it like facebook sucks!!!! - Courtenay (Teacher)

And he still won't pay for a decent haircut?? Brilliant......

I like keeping a link to ex colleagues, and have got a job from being messaged on LinkedIn. I think it's really good. - Katy (Digital Marketer)

I personally think it is a great networking tool for professionals. - Keith (IT Support Professional)

Too many bloody recruitment agencies 'adding' you. Does my head in! - Reg (Insurance Broker)

Random people you don't know wanting to 'connect'. And the 'anonymous' people who look at your profile. I just don't like it. - Hayley (Brand Consultant)

Yeah the work anniversaries are a total piss-off. I really don't give two flying sh*ts if little Jimmy McGee from primary school wants to congratulate me on my anniversary with my employer. The only congratulations I want or need is my annual pay rise. I think I speak for most here on that. - Courtenay (Teacher)

What's that feature where someone can endorse your skills? Equivalent of "like" on FB I really dislike this on LinkedIn. - Julia (Management Consultant)

As you can see, a lot of the feedback we received was pretty negative about the evolution of LinkedIn into something closer to Facebook. It seems social media platforms are just like any other tool - it's how you choose to use them.

Paul is founder of sunstonetalent.com an IT Recruitment & HR Consultancy based in Christchurch, South Island of New Zealand.

paul@sunstonetalent.com

LinkedIn. We asked the question about what you LIKEd or DISLIKEd?