People are talking about how they have a LinkedIn account and how creepy it is when LinkedIn suggests Facebook friends who don’t have LinkedIn accounts, but obscure that information in some way. You think you’re sending a friend (who you mistakenly believe already has a LinkedIn account) a connection request, but really LinkedIn has tricked you into spamming your own friends on LinkedIn’s behalf. This is obviously bad, but I’ve seen much worse.
I first made a LinkedIn account a few years ago because I got an email that my sister wanted to connect on LinkedIn. I’m not into social networks at all, but in the interest of family bonds I clicked the link to make an account and “connect” with her.
So I made the account, and the link in the email must’ve been set up to automatically connect our accounts. But a few days later she emails me that she got my LinkedIn request via email, but she hadn’t yet made an account, and as soon as she made one she’d add me. So this was a tricky spamming strategy in which no one started out with an account, but neither party was aware of that.
TL;DR LinkedIn knew my sister’s email address, my email address, and our connection, and basically tricked both of us into thinking that the other person was already on LinkedIn and wanted to connect. That’s a step beyond what people are talking about here, and is IMO seriously sketchy, unprofessional, and messed up. I don’t think they kept up this practice for very long, but it’s so over the top and beyond the pale that I’m surprised it didn’t result in lawsuits and the entire company being tarnished for decades. Obviously they’ve tarnished their name in plenty of other ways, but the fact that no one talks about this particular practice makes me wonder what other awful stuff they do that most people don’t know about.
I first made a LinkedIn account a few years ago because I got an email that my sister wanted to connect on LinkedIn. I’m not into social networks at all, but in the interest of family bonds I clicked the link to make an account and “connect” with her.
So I made the account, and the link in the email must’ve been set up to automatically connect our accounts. But a few days later she emails me that she got my LinkedIn request via email, but she hadn’t yet made an account, and as soon as she made one she’d add me. So this was a tricky spamming strategy in which no one started out with an account, but neither party was aware of that.
TL;DR LinkedIn knew my sister’s email address, my email address, and our connection, and basically tricked both of us into thinking that the other person was already on LinkedIn and wanted to connect. That’s a step beyond what people are talking about here, and is IMO seriously sketchy, unprofessional, and messed up. I don’t think they kept up this practice for very long, but it’s so over the top and beyond the pale that I’m surprised it didn’t result in lawsuits and the entire company being tarnished for decades. Obviously they’ve tarnished their name in plenty of other ways, but the fact that no one talks about this particular practice makes me wonder what other awful stuff they do that most people don’t know about.