LinkedIN to LinkedOUT
Jashan Joshi
Talent Acquisition | Talent Sourcing & Intelligence | Driving Smart Hiring Decisions
My Linkedin journey began way back in 2007 when not many in India had even heard of LinkedIn. In fact , early networkers like me were the Li advocates for India. Linkedin made me a global citizen , having connected with people across geographies, countries, races, genders , age groups. I started investing time in connecting with people as I saw value in it.
However the trouble started when I reached 28,000 connections. I received a message from Linkedin that you can not have over 30000 connections in your network. On asking why, answer I got was - "Because Linkedin has a policy that you can not have over 30K people in your network". I decided to follow up on the ideology behind it & the answer I got was disappointing - "LinkedIn thinks that one can not know more than 30k people in this world".
I understand that every org has policies but again there has to be some logic behind it?? How can someone stop me from networking over 30k professionals where the size of LinkedIn's network is 500 million? I don't see any rationale here.
Now here is the worst part:
I am nearing 30K, I crossed 29K connections. I have over 6000 pending & hence wanted to make sure that I select the right ones. Linkedin has various filters through which you can filter your connections based on company/ school etc. As a shocker I found out that none of the filters were working. On reaching out to @linkedinHelp, here is what I got-
"Thanks for circling back. Unfortunately when your network is of this size & so close to 30000, the ability to sort contacts does not work properly. We are sorry for the inconvenience"
Don't you think, the filters will be of best use when you want to be selective about accepting connections? What's the logic of removing filters when you near 30k??
Also what does linkedin mean by "ability doesn't work properly?
Here is how Linkedin will make you feel you are Linked-Out than Linked-In once you near the limit of 30K.
Microsoft paid $26.2 billion to buy LinkedIn, I am really hoping that Linkedin becomes more liberal in terms of thoughts around the size of the connections than dragging everyone to the stone age. Basic things like filters are in non-working condition. I don't see any policy around filters , when you fall between 29K & 30K connections. Someone from microsoft-linkedin needs to empathize with the loyal customers they have for so many years & address these issues.
Dear Microsoft, hope one day you will make Linkedin great again.
Best,
Jashan
(Note- All the above views are personal. Also, this article is targeted towards the policies, philosophy of Linkedin & not the customer service.)
Director @ Mastercard | MBA - IIM Indore | Gold Medalist in B.E. | Program Management | Strategy | Digital
7 年I can add a few more POV to this situation ( Of course I am no where close to 30k connection. But this is what my first understanding of this scenario is ) - # 1. Not sure how the figure of '30k' was decided as the cutoff for the number of connections. But then there had to be some figure set as a cut off. Why ? ( a ) There has to be a Fair Usage criteria set for use of any product. Just like most 'unlimited' offers have some hidden yet restrictive upper cutoffs. ( b ) From an org perspective for LI, nearing or crossing this cutoff of 30k connections could well be a flag to monitor spam networks ( People adding others even without a possible connection ) or even a bot attack. # 2. Having said that, how can LI handle this user story in a better way rather than a blanket cutoff figure of 30k connections - ( a ) Analyse the 'activity' of the user. If he has been a power user which would be reflected in his LI activity including the posts / articles / comments and other engagement parameters, then the cutoff can be a much higher value. ( b ) If the user is on a position ( such as a recruiter / non-profit org role etc. ) which needs him to connect to a substantially higher number of people, then the cutoff can be increased. ( c ) This higher cutoffs may or may not be offered in the basic user type. Devising super user types even with a premium charged for it, can still be beneficial to the power users. ( d ) Putting in place weekly / monthly cutoffs for maximum number of new connections allowed instead of lifetime blanket cutoff of 30k. There's no harm in piloting this, analyzing the results and then deciding further.
Global Sales | Doctoral Candidate | RevOps Researcher
7 年Avik Roy : Can you have someone speak to Jashan.
Head - Recruitment Delivery @ Global Talent Acquisition | Leadership Hiring
7 年Agree with you Jashan !
ClickUp - the everything app , for work! ?? ?? ??
7 年Hi Nargis Dustmatova i have reached out to you directly to discuss this further , talk soon.
Global Resource Services in Fintech , System Integration services, Fintech Community
7 年I should probably add the search buttons are becoming so inefficient. I cannot even find people in my first connection The problem is not only with my account but across my team. Switching /upgrading to various paid accounts does not make any difference. Needles to say the often technical issue stating something like " ooops it's not you it's us! " OR "please prove that you are not a robot" ...