I am beginning to have social media monetization tactics fatigue.

I attempted to use that alleged job-networking site when I was job hunting for the ~two years between Dec. '07 and Feb. '10. I've tried to back out of it but can't seem to escape it's grip. What really, really cheesed me off is it went to my Facebook (as far as I can tell, because I have a couple of people as friends there that I'd never, EVER do that kind of thing) and invite them to be my job networking site contacts. GRRRRRRRRR.

How I use it:
- I like having a way to stay in touch with people that I've worked with, without it being in something like Facebook. For example, I've worked happily with people who have very different political views than I. I couldn't be linked to them in something like Facebook without causing a rift by my (or their) comments about political events. I recently needed to buy office furniture at work, and had no idea who the good local vendors were. Through Finkedin, I was able to get in touch with two knowledgeable people who gave me specific recommendations here in town.

- When I'm looking for a job, by changing my status I can tell my professional colleagues that I'm looking (those that have signed up for weekly updates, that is).

- Adding an update will also go out in the weekly update email. That's how I told everyone I was linked to on the site about opting out of the ad thing.

- I research a company where I'm thinking of applying, to see if I know anyone there, or if anyone I know used to work there. I've gotten some very helpful information that way (an "omigod don't apply there!" comes to mind).

- When I have an interview scheduled, I look up the interviewers to get an idea of their background, to be prepared for what they're likely to be asking about. I don't suppose that really helps in a material way, but simply having some information in advance about the strangers that you'll be meeting makes an interview less stressful.

- When I'm in hiring mode, if I like a candidate's resume, I'll look up their profile for more info.

Were they based in Europe, they'd come under the laws enacted to apply European directives on privacy, such as the UK's Data Protection Act.

It's being seriously suggested that outfits such as Google, with their world-wide business, would come under these Europe-wide laws. Which would mean that they would have to tell their customers what they plan to do, and default settings would have to be rather more secure than they are.

Yes, it's a can of worms.

Giant Economy Size.

I expect it will keep the lawyers busy.

(Yes, I know lawyers can be useful. So can bovine excrement, in the right place.)

I did uncheck that box though. That's pretty rude. I doubt they've used me in any ads, given that I post so rarely and don't have a photo uploaded, but still.

☔ I'm now an amateur person. I don't person for money.

Yep, I've gotten that spam on behalf of people who damn well know better than to "invite me into their networks". Notably, my life-coach cousin, and a prominent lawyer-blogger whom I've sent a couple of links to. Need I say that I'm not involved with either profession?

Worse: If you don't accept, they'll just keep sending "reminders". Of course, there's no way to reject the invitation, much less a stop-bothering-me link. They do promise "You can leave <foobar>'s network at any time, but I assume you have to do that from within FinkedIn.

Having been reminded by this post, I've just set up a Thunderbird filter rule. Any post whose "From" line contains "FinkedIn Invitations" now goes straight to the junk folder (and tagged as junk -- that's just an extra "action" for the rule).

I have mentioned
l!nk3d!n
on the thread
anent gnomes

likely
I will be banished
as a
comment spammer

Forgive me
I could not resist
the sweet
sweet spam

Dammit, I love the Internet in all its myriad ways, but sometimes it's like a non-housebroken puppy who pees over everything and what it doesn't soak with urine it chews on.

I'm reminded of Neil Gaiman's story about the clumsy Americanization of one of his books, where an editor had done a global search and replace which left some of his characters saying things apartmently.

Thanks for the warning.

LNKD had its IPO in May. Frankly I'm surprised it took this long before they started trying to monetize us. They have zero projected profits for 2011, together with a current market capitalization of $8.3 billion. Not all of those shares can be sold to a Greater Fool, so LNKD is scrabbling for anything that reeks even faintly of revenue..
"How do we do it ? Volume !"

(URL hexified in an attempt to elude moderation queue, but ML's Preview suggests that trick didn't work.)

If they were ... but they aren't, and as pointed out here, Google Admits Handing over European User Data to US Intelligence Agencies :(

Like others above, it's also been a source of good leads on potential work in my rather niche field of Contingent Workforce Management, although, since I'll be moving to L.A. in about a month (my husband just got hired by Dreamworks Animation), all these Silicon Valley contacts probably won't be much help, but the other contacts in my interest groups will. It's one of those things where I'm not happy with how it's set up, but I don't see an alternative.

Congrats to your hubby!

Clearly, I'm doing something wrong, or I could be having all the fun that all of you are having.

It's been a useful way of staying in touch and keeping up with former coworkers, a useful source of job leads, and it helps put my professional face out there.

If anyone knows of a social media website where you don't need to check your privacy settings regularly, I do wish you'd share that information.

On topic, I have found L1nk3d1n useful for keeping track of people I no longer work with but don't want to friend on Facebook. And L1 is not alone in the mad rush to monetize anything possible in social media. A harbinger of another bubble popping?