LinkedIn Alternative(s)

[T5R+]

Member of the site for decade(s). Anyone aware of alternative forum/sites that have less of the social content ie how LinkedIn existed years ago.

[worsy]

T5R+ said:

Member of the site for decade(s). Anyone aware of alternative forum/sites that have less of the social content ie how LinkedIn existed years ago.

I hear you. It's worse than Facebook for absolute crap these days.

[Joscal]

I deleted it for the same reasons.

I’m coming to the conclusion that having your name and where you work online is only really useful for Willy waving or if you’re looking for a job.

I found the number of unsolicited sales calls to our office went up dramatically too.

[McAndy]

I left it a few years back due to concerns over privacy and their handling/security of personal data. I have not missed it, nor needed an alternative.

[cavey76]

Depends on your industry. It gets checked a few times a week by me (Telecoms SW). Yes there is a lot of pish, people's dogs and so on but if you have a job where selling is part of what you do and ultimately in an enterprise you either make stuff or sell stuff then its useful for keeping up to date.

Gets marked as a necessary evil for me as the alternatives, Xing for instance are worse.

If anything i find the true social networks are helping out as more companies show their conscience and touchy feelyness through the likes of IG & TWTR so LinkedIn gets a bit less full of, "Oh look we all had a day off and cleaned the local pond as thats the kinda company Acme Corp is!"

[Sheepshanks]

Joscal said:

I found the number of unsolicited sales calls to our office went up dramatically too.

We're getting loads of targeted phishing emails that are using LinkedIn for the names as the people they're sent to match and one of them has a typo in his name on LinkedIn and we can see that email gets bounced in the logs.

[sociopath]

Thanks for the reminder.

Profile deleted 3 years after I retired.

[Flooble]

I fear that at some point LinkedIn will only consist of sales people and unemployed people.

I guess we may end up going back to networking the old fashioned way and actually knowing the people in your "network"

[MitchT]

Joscal said:

I’m coming to the conclusion that having your name and where you work online is only really useful for Willy waving or if you’re looking for a job.

I'd say it's only useful for willy waving. I've been trying to change jobs for ages. LinkedIn has done nothing to assist the process. All I get is people trying to sell me stuff, people trying to sell my employer stuff and somehow thinking I'm in a position to make buying decisions, when it would be clear that I'm not if the read my profile, and recruiters spamming me with jobs I'm not remotely qualified for, again, something which would be clear if they bothered to read my profile.

[Flooble]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Fair point. Although of course there is a world of difference between "Bob who I worked with for a few months five years ago" and "Bob who I go for a drink with every other month". I suppose when I wrote that I was thinking of the latter, while as your rightly point out it's very easy to accept a connection from the former and thus end up with a huge network of people you can just about remember.

[Pit Pony]

Flooble said:

I fear that at some point LinkedIn will only consist of sales people and unemployed people.

I guess we may end up going back to networking the old fashioned way and actually knowing the people in your "network"

I've just updated my linkedin profile for my new job.
Got loads and by loads I mean 2% of my connections (11000 And rising) send a congrats on.the new role.
I realised I had no idea who any of them are.

But. The last contract I had, came from a bloke I met at a previous contract in 2014. And he specifically remembered me, and luckily was able to.contact me via linked in.
The permie job I've just taken, came about because an old boss, remembered me. And the only contact details he had were well.out of date. But because I've connected with so.many people, he was able to find me.

[reapercushions]

Much like Facebook.. your feed, content and engagement is entirely up to you.

Only want to use it to connect to people you actually know?... Don't accept connection requests from people you don't.

Fed up of the 'social seller' or LinkedIn Influencer? Delete / block them.



The benefits hugely outweigh the downsides for me. It can be an amazingly powerful tool depending on what you want from using it.

Also consider it is free for it's base level of user and if something is free... you are the product. Expect to 'pay' in some way for using it.

[PorkInsider]

Pit Pony said:

... 2% of my connections (11000 And rising)...

Holy st! 11,000?!

I thought 500+ was getting excessive.

[archie456]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I retired a few years back, but have been amazed at the number of my contacts that I’ve never heard of, let alone had request from.

I’m convinced they, LinkedIn, just link people anyway.

[donnie85]

If it wasn't for LinkedIn I wouldn't be in the job I'm in now. I contacted the recruiter directly about a role advertised rather then applying with my CV with it being lost along with others. Next role I will use the same strategy....see a job advertised on Indeed then contact the recruiter directly on LinkedIn.

[GilletteFan]

I believe your network dictates what you see on your feed? I am not sure, but for me it's all about humbled to work in a company, bitter sweet farewells and a relentless feed of parents with their babies and children. Seems to be happening more and more. I wonder what is driving this?

From a job search perspective, LinkedIn's easy apply ends up spamming your inbox/ designated folder with thousands of job applications of wildly varying degrees of relevancy OR they direct these applicants to each listing company's respective career site. The combination of this is a very high chance of your CV being overlooked.

[Hoofy]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Ugh. I started noticing people posting pics of their kids/babies. FFS it's not FB.

[Beyond Rational]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

But it's good for a humblebrag, which is what Linkedin is all about these days.

[T5R+]

GilletteFan said:

........

Isleworth. Ignore if makes zero sense.

Hoofy said:

Ugh. I started noticing people posting pics of their kids/babies. FFS it's not FB.

I so nearly went on a rant this morning over soppy drivel.



Whilst I am a Petrolhead, do not want to see vehicle related tat on there eg 2x outfits selling cosmetically enhanced "Trannies" plus 3x detailing companies appeared on my feed yesterday plus assorted pictures of female "truckers".

[anonymous-user]

LinkedIn has been pretty useful to me.

I was recruited for a paid board position totally out of the blue by a recruiter who was trawling LinkedIn for suitable candidates.

When I was self employed as a consultant, I obtained several assignments from recruiters who had found me on LinkedIn, and vice-versa I followed numerous relevant recruiters/agencies and jumped on a few pieces of work I saw them advertising.

I'm now employed as a consultant rather than self-employed, so LinkedIn isn't as important for finding work, but it is still useful for news and info from the industry I'm in, and never say never with regards to seeing another job advertised and going for it.

What I will say though, is that much like the OP, I'm starting to get pissed off with it turning into Facebook. People posting personal rubbish, sob stories, charity stuff, asking for donations, fictional motivational stories, even their bloody holiday photos now.

I saw a post today of someone sharing photos of their daughter graduating... I noticed one of the comments was "Why are you posting this? It isn't Facebook" which was met by an angry reply of "I don't do Facebook so I share my stuff on here, if you don't like it you can delete me"

LinkedIn need to sort it out and start banning personal stuff otherwise people will leave, and it will just end up as Facebook for people who don't want to use Facebook.