After 7 years and 20K Connections...I remain unimpressed with LinkedIn

I started the CrossConnects Movement within the Telecom space because I felt that fundamentally LinkedIn did not understand the value of industry specific social networks.

• They suggest you connect with people "you may know" but then ding you when those samesay "II don't know Steve". Then they send nastygram saying you should only connect with people that you actually know. There is no value; none whatsoever, in connecting with Sheila in accounting. You see her three times a day in the breakroom, Networking is about reaching people you don't know not those you see every day!
• They allow you to create large groups of industry-specific experts but only allow you to invite people already in your immediate network. I became as visible as I am because of the groups I started, but LinkedIn does not seem to get that creating a group of people that you already know is utterly nonsensical. I have to tell you as someone who has run upwards of 20 twenty groups, the core functionality LinkedIn provides is atrocious.
• Folks join groups for both connections and content, You should never, ever, be penalized for trying to connect with people in the same group. That is fundamental to the concept of networking, but LinkedIn fails to distinguish between types of "requests to connect" or highlight an in-group context to the people you want to connect with.

I get LinkedIn's perspective at some levels: You have to protect users from being spammed to death. But it seems to me that LinkedIn has erred way too much on the side of privacy on a website which uses social networking to promote ones own credentials or their current employer.

What gets me is that LinkedIn's revenue model (tiered paid membership) is really poorly conceived. Facebook and Google are free because revenue is generated through ad clicks. They have figured out the special sauce is in driving people to their sites through content and create a platform for advertisers, to capture audience. You would think that advertisers would chomp at the bit to get closer to this well-heeled community than even Facebook, but .LinkedIn outrageously high rates for membership; precious little desire to support meaningful user engagement and schizophrenic view about business networking has left me cold.

Linkedin's abject neglect of any substantive change in group functionality in the last 7 years has meant that group owners face daunting choices between Spam control, content development and member recruitment. Group Managers have been pleading for fundamental change for years but to no avail,

I built my substantial network, by playing by the rules so I think I have earned the right to say this: LinkedIn is in desperate need of a fundamental shift in product vision and that starts with listening to its super users and improving the customer experience in every conceivable way.