This morning, on the other hand, when I got the “PYMK” suggestions, there was one very odd suggestion that stuck out.

I did, in fact know this person although, there is no digital, internet, email, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, or 50th secondary person I know connection, in fact there is no connection other than person to person, via telephone, and a personal home address connection (the owner of the guest house I live in). The thing is that I’ve NEVER been connected to this person via LinkedIn and I’ve never made my personal home address available as public domain via LinkedIn, Facebook, My Personal Website, or anywhere else that didn’t involve some sort of secure transaction via PayPal or other source.

I regularly clear my cookies and history after every browsing session (I’m kinda OCD) but even if that wasn’t the case, there would be no connection via the internet way of websites I’ve visited or email to connect me to this person. I also run NoScript which is a very efficient add-on for preventing 3rd party scripts, and code to be running in the background of websites.

This single mishap alone has left me to believe that LinkedIn is using other resources to gain information about you other than what you provide via LinkedIn or the Internet. They have gone past the digital spectrum to a whole different 3rd party source. The only way they would have been able to find this information is scouring public domain via Postal, City, State records that are made public including mailing address, etc. Is this legal?

Anyone’s input on this would be greatly appreciated.

Best,
Travis

I also advise people that if you are in an industry where your competitors like to prey on your connections; dormant connections create “white noise” and make it more difficult for someone to search for value among your connections. Sure you can prevent people from seeing your connections, but, to me, “white noise” is better.

I’ve only had one person that I removed from my LinkedIn connections.

He sent me an invite and I accepted. I usually do. Next I receive periodic messages that simply say “Hello” or “How are you?” I don’t know this person, so I’m thinking what’s up with this. I don’t respond.

Finally after I don’t know how many messages; I tell him that this is not the way to communicate and that people will get irritated. The response “I only want to be your friend.” I still don’t know the person and we have nothing in common. The messages continue and finally I get fed up and ask him to stop. He doesn’t, so I disconnect. I then get an obscene message referring to parts of the body; so I report him to LinkedIn…never to be heard from again.

This is an excellent article and if you consider LinkedIn in the way that most people use it; it is not a replacement for a Rolodex. If, however, you use the available tools that LinkedIn offers; it is far more valuable than a Rolodex.

When was the last time that your Rolodex contacted you to tell you that one of your connections had moved, changed jobs, changed employers, or made other significant changes in their career? Most likely never; can LinkedIn do this for you? Most certainly.

LinkedIn is a Rolodex where your contacts, that use LinkedIn effectively and properly, will keep your Rolodex current to a level never before reached. Your connections are providing the input and updates as they make changes.

I added a comment to the original article talking about how you can use LinkedIn to replace your Rolodex and maintain the communications with your connections far more efficiently.

Unlike something like JD (juris doctor-law); CPA/CMA (Certified Public Accountant/Certified Management Accountant) or even and this is stretching it a bit – EA (Enrolled Agent) or CMI (Certified Member of the Institute- a tax certification that one can get for sales, property or income tax). Some of these are more well known to the general public than others.

What have you found?