Facebook-for-suits biz LinkedIn shares drop on weakened 2014 outlook Shares in business networking site LinkedIn have dropped 7.8 per cent in after-hours trading, struggling back from an earlier low of 15 per cent, after it predicted weaker-than-expected results for the first quarter. The professional network said that it now anticipates revenue in the quarter of between $455m and $460m, …
...over the last year or so I've seen LinkedIn change from a handy tool into a monumental pain in the arse. The GUI used to be quite clean and intuitive - now it's metamorphosed into some sort of Farcebook clone, with screen refreshes and pop-ups triggered by mouse-overs, dog-slow refresh times and an abundance of flashy (and Flashy) crap. The endorsements prompts would be a joke if they weren't so bloody annoying.
The ability to keep in touch with business contacts is certainly very useful - but that usefulness is rapidly being eroded by an increasingly user-hostile GUI (Gaudy User Interface).
Well, nothing unexpected here.
The moment the recruiters took over, the users fled in droves.
Now this is nothing but another recruitment site with some news and social sprinkled on top. I used to check it a couple of times a day. I now take a peek once a month through an extremely heavy no-script shield. It is almost as if the site is designed for malware and rat planting. It will not work unless you allow it nearly everything.
I am surprised it still have a positive valuation in the first place. I would not give it one.
I've got a LinkedIn profile. Once every two years I even update it.
And I get no less than three or four e-mails every week from LinkedIn telling me something that I don't need to know about someone I don't remember ever linking to.
I honestly can't see the point of it. I know that I never came close to getting a job because of it. Or hiring anyone. I'm more likely to do either of those via Facebook or even Twitter.
I suspect that this is because I actually am drawn to content. Discussion. Thoughtfulness. Depth.
Stuff that LinkedIn can't or won't provide.
Besides - who in God's name wants to spend an afternoon reading other people's resumes?
I fell out with LinkedIn when they couldn't put my location within about forty miles of here.
I was told by some LinkedOut droid that my location was based on the initial letters part of the post code which is bloody daft. For example, this would have someone living on the mid western coast of Aberystwyth placed in Shrewsbury. Yes, in the wrong country!
After failingto get them to move my address somewhat closer to my house -- anywhere on the correct coastline would have been an improvement -- I gave up with them.
Things may have improved by now but I fail to see the point of it and why some central heating engineer in Peru or a casino worker in the North East wishes to have me as a contact I will never understand.
used to like it very much in the beginning. To me, the whole lot collapsed when they wanted real money to allow me to use the site somewhat properly. I remember, one time I couldn't even send an e-mail without 'Privilege'.
The mistake is widespread, alas: get some people subscribing, see a site growing exponentially, profits-profits-profits, and down you go. In order to be fashionable and cool and whatnot, LinkedIn ought to have been proud of having almost any white-collar worker under the sun in their database, and allow those people (us people) access to all useful, though basic, facilities.
With a 'privilege' for those who actually want it. They haven't grasp the basic rules at all: Their capital isn't what I should pay for regularly, their capital is having us (including me) in their database!
Yes they are making a profit but for how much longer.
I only use it (from a dedicated VM) to check up on potential recruits but even that use is becoming less relevant.
Like FB, Twitter, LinkedIn is a fading fad. Long may the decline continue.
Beer O'clock. Yeah!
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