>I have to give LinkedIn credit for a really excellent solution to this
Well, I would NOT call it excellent. And, I recognize that it LinkedIn’s “ball” and they can take it home any time they want.
However, if I was them, I’d have went at this a little more sensitively. I’ve been on LinkedIn for a long time. If I wasn’t in the first wave, I was in an early one. When they were trying to get recognition, it was “upload your address book and get connections”. Now, like a reformed prostitute, they want to move “upscale”. No more “connection sluts” wanted. (Sorry if this is too graphic.) They are saying “we used you to get our buzz; now buzz off”. I’d have communicated with people, everyone, what was changing, why, and an attempt to build a community agreement of “best practices”.
I get upset with heavy handed approaches. FWIW I have 60 invites left. And, have been rejected for an increase. As an alumni ezine publisher, I have over 2k or active readers and a rolodex of 6k “live” alums. (And, some dead ones too. RIP! Whose families use their email account to keep in touch.) I also have professional rolodex of 10k from my consulting days. I can’t guess at the percent I know personally, but it is high. But LinkedIn doesn’t seem to see that as a legitimate use of their service. But, their “group” group just accepted LinkedInJaspers as a valid group. Like most organizations, policy and procedures aren’t uniform.
Like Digg just learned the hard way, the community can revolt. If LinkedIn doesn’t recognize that they have a tiger by the tail, then they should. Assume that one of the movers ‘n’ shakers gets annoyed at some tactic or other, LinkedIn could be faced with a competitor. If some one had the time and inclination, you could use them as a model. Do it better based on the mistakes they have made. And, poof, NIDEKNIL is born! All the Open Networkers move. Followed shortly by all the Recruiters. Followed shortly by all the JobSeekers. Followed shortly by all those employed but scared. LinkedIn will have its employees, those too lazy to move, the clueless, and the “strawmen”. Since NIDEKNIL is coded from scratch and knows the volumes, it can be better, faster, and cheaper than LinkedIn. Heck, it can even do an export / import from LinkedIn like those bozos at Jigsaw did. They sucked every public source of profiles, turned it into a db, and started selling it. They’re still there so I assume they are making money.
So, gazing into my crystal ball, I see that there is a path that LinkedIn could take to their doom. Hope they don’t take it, but they seem to be very oblivious to just how fickle the marketplace can be.
Reinke Faces Life 