I’m On LinkedIn – Now What???

LinkedIn Spammer: How to get rid of a bad LinkedIn Contact

I got a message from a first degree contact (I accept all invites, since I speak a lot and can’t know or sit down with everyone who invites me) that said this:

Thats Nice hearing back from you Bruce well My name is Angela you knw that Lol , Am single and Searching, with black hair and brown eyes.. My height is 5′ 8″, with a weight of 125 lbs. I am a very caring and generous person. I like to make other people happy; there is nothing more fulfilling than bringing laughter or a smile to someone’s face. I have been told that I have a great sense of humor, but you will have to judge that for yourself. I would describe myself as being rather quiet almost shy when meeting new people, but open up rather quickly once I get to know you.
I am a great listener, I am soft, beautiful and simple Lady , I believe in God and in the soul. I like watching movies, going out for dinner, walk, hold hands, read books about God…Thats all i can say for now, if u really wanna know more about me u can add me on yahoo messenger so we can chart more and get to know better .here is my id ( angelsexy4420@yahoo.com (this was a hyperlink, which I removed) ) Looking forward to hear back from you ., Take care

Yuck.

What do you do?

First, go to their Profile Page, and click on the Flag icon:

Next, fill in this form.  Don’t you love how small that second box is?  Reminds of the complaint forms that don’t have enough room for you to say anything :p

I just did this, and then checked to see if I’m still a first degree contact.  On Twitter, if I report for spam they automatically disconnect me from that profile.  Alas, on LinkedIn we’re still first degree contacts.

I’m expecting LinkedIn to delete that account soon, however I want it out.  So I have to remove the LinkedIn connection manually, which is a PAIN, since I can’t do it from that page…. It takes a few more clicks and some scrolling to REMOVE that contact.  Unfortunately, they don’t give me a chance to say the person is a SPAMMER (like on Twitter).

OH YEAH, this person has 120 OTHER first degree contacts. Probably LIONs :p

Posted in LinkedIn Connections, LinkedIn Spam | 1 Comment »

LinkedIn Summary vs. Short Attention Spans

Brenda Bernstein, a resume writer recently asked me this:

Curious to know more about your 2,000 character summary recommendation in the age of short attention spans.

That’s a great question.

She’s referring to my strong recommendation to use as many of the 2,000 characters in the LinkedIn Summary that you can.

Also, I talk about SHORT messages… short emails, short(er) “elevator pitches,” etc.

So where does this “use it all up” and “go shorter!” meet?

Specifically, on the LinkedIn Summary, this is a place where people have come to learn more about you.  You already have their attention… you don’t need to do the 5 second elevator pitch, especially if they have scrolled down to your LinkedIn Summary.  They’ve seen your Professional Headline, your titles, etc.

The Summary is a place that can stink whether it is long or short, really.  I’ve seen stinky short, long and mid-sized Summaries.

If you have my book or DVD you know ONE goal of the Summary is to engage.

How do you do that?

For most people, you will tell stories.  You can use the PAR format to tell your stories.

The cool thing about stories is that they are more engaging… and will suck the reader in.  Tell multiple stories (multiple PAR statements), and become more engaging.  Do this well and before you know it you’ll wish you had an extra 1,000 characters…

That’s how you use it up, and how you avoid the issues with the short attentions spans.

Make sense?

Posted in LinkedIn Profiles | 1 Comment »

LinkedIn News: Status Updates for Companies

Seems like a logical progression on the path they’ve been on for the last year+.

What do you think about it?

Reference Link: LinkedIn Launches Company Status Updates [How to Get Started]

Posted in LinkedIn Companies, LinkedIn News, Using LinkedIn | No Comments »

First LinkedIn book updated

Steve Tylock wrote the very first book on LinkedIn.  It’s called the LinkedIn Personal Trainer.

He finally updated it… you can learn more about it here.

Steve’s day job is not training on LinkedIn, or writing… I think it’s pretty cool he got his book out.

For the record, mine was the second LinkedIn book, which is now in the third edition.

I’m not sure what the order is of the other books on LinkedIn…

Posted in LinkedIn Book | No Comments »

LinkedIn’s Job Search Package: “should I upgrade?”

Here’s an important post to read about LinkedIn’s job seeker upgrade option (I get asked about this pretty much every time I present): How LinkedIn’s Job Seeker Package May Actually HURT Your Chances of Getting a Job

What do you think about it?

Posted in LinkedIn for Job Seekers, Using LinkedIn | 1 Comment »

What social networks will be around in 10 years?

Check out this quote, from a TechCrunch article:

“I don’t think you can take for granted that any social network is going to be here 10 years from now.”

Who said that? Read the short TechCrunch article here.

A guy who had a very successful site in 2002, that was made irrelevent by another site (not myspace):

Heiferman started the photo sharing site in 2002 and says “it (Fotolog) became the number one social network” in several countries. It eventually sold for millions of dollars. However, Heiferman notes Fotolog’s top status eroded when Flickr hit the web and it made Heiferman realize that no company is totally secure against competition.

Will “the big three” be around in 10 years?  5 years?

Tools are tools.

Posted in social networking, Using LinkedIn | 1 Comment »

How to email your LinkedIn Connections

I’ve received emails from my first degree connections for a while. I am always curious to know how people do this.  In the early days I had a note in my Summary that said something like “If you connect with me, I’m going to put you on my newsletter.” I’d then export my contacts and import to iContact or ConstantContact.

Then, I got smart and changed it to say “click here to sign up for my newsletter,” which made it “opt-in.”

Then, I got tired of paying for the newsletter services, and changed it again to say “join my LinkedIn Group, and I’ll send you periodic newsletter-like emails.”  This is where I’m at now.

But you can do something more direct to your first degree Contacts.  Check out this post: How to Use LinkedIn Mail to Connect With Your Contacts. Linda Coles breaks down the process, and some pros/cons, of using this tool.  The biggest con is that you can only do 50 at a time.  If you have 1,000 contacts, you will have to do this 20 times to reach all of them.  Yuck.

At the same time, if that limit wasn’t in place, your contacts might be overly eager to spam you all the time.

The easier it is, the more it might be abused.

So it’s not easy, but it works.

Have you ever tried it?

Posted in LinkedIn Connections, LinkedIn for Job Seekers, LinkedIn Profiles, social networking, Using LinkedIn | 1 Comment »

Are LinkedIn’s Free Features Going Away?

Many say they are

Check out this question on LinkedIn Answers: Has anyone else noticed that endorser names on LinkedIn recommendations have disappeared?

This could have been about a dozen different features that have disappeared.

I wonder where LinkedIn is headed – if they keep taking away functionality from free users they will either drive their users to other networks (Facebook and Google+), or they will increase their upgrades and make more money.

Perhaps they’ll accomplish both: make more money from people who use the tool while getting rid of (dare I say?) freeloaders who just use the resources.

It’s an interesting crossroads to be at…!

Posted in LinkedIn for Job Seekers, LinkedIn News, Using LinkedIn | 5 Comments »

LinkedIn Profile Update: Summary + Newsletter

Here’s a quick change I just made on my Profile.

I switched from Constant Contact to iContact (because a friend worked there – he doesn’t anymore), and finally just moved my “newsletter” to my LinkedIn Group (where I can send an “announcement” every 8 days).

So, I had to update the link that I had let sit there for TOO LONG to the new Group URL:

Why am I sharing this?  Because every little tiny thing that we neglect, like changing the URL in my Summary, affects our communication and brand and effectiveness.

What are you neglecting?

This took me all of 50 seconds to fix.

Posted in LinkedIn Connections, LinkedIn for Job Seekers, LinkedIn Groups, LinkedIn Maintenance, LinkedIn Profiles, Using LinkedIn | No Comments »

Another LinkedIn Privacy Issue: Manage Social Advertising

I saw an interesting title on my LinkedIn Group and clicked over to learn more.   Check out this biting title:

LinkedIn Pulled A Facebook And Messed With Your Info — Here’s How To Fix It

Wow. That is a strong accusation. Facebook has become notorious for screwing (there’s not really a nice way to say what FB does, with regard to our privacy!) users by making all kinds of weird changes to privacy.

So what did they do?  Read the article to see how to OPT OUT… here’s what it is in a nutshell:

LinkedIn has volunteered your name and photograph to be used for advertising if it feels like it wants to use them.

I hadn’t heard of this before, so I followed the simple steps to opt out and found that yes, I indeed am in their list of people who can be used for LinkedIn’s advertising. In a nutshell, you opt out by going into the Settings page, then in this order:

I haven’t seen or heard this anywhere else… maybe all the hype over Google+ is keeping the LinkedIn bloggers busy?

Posted in LinkedIn for Job Seekers, LinkedIn News, LinkedIn Profiles, Using LinkedIn | No Comments »