This article is a stub. You can help the IndieWebCamp wiki by expanding it.
LinkedIn is a special-purpose silo for hosting your professional resume, history, and contacts.
Issues
Contents |
Issues are problems due to perhaps ignorance (rather than malice) that we optimistically hope could/would be fixed.
Lack of rel-me
LinkedIn has a way to add your "Blog" URL to your LinkedIn profile, however, it has multiple problems:
- your LinkedIn profile URL does not actually have curlable hyperlink markup to your blog (JSON only)
- hyperlink itself uses a linkedin redirect to your blog
- hyperlink in the DOM lacks a rel=me
So LinkedIn will not work as an IndieAuth provider.
Criticism
Criticism applies to bad behaviors that have some amount of malintent / maldesign.
Creepy emails
In order to retain users, LinkedIn now send out emails to tell you that people are looking at your profile, which is kind of creepy. The subject lines are of the form: "(name), people are looking at your LinkedIn profile".
It doesn't quite reach dark pattern levels of evil, but it is playing on your natural anxiety around being watched (especially in an era of PRISM and Edward Snowden etc.)
Treats Import as Spam Contacts
LinkedIn spams everyone you "import":
- 2013-03-06 https://twitter.com/mathowie/status/309417266842308608
With three clicks, I (accidentally) asked 1138 people to connect on LinkedIn using their import feature. Goddammit, I hate you LinkedIn.
- 2013-03-06 Matt Haughey: LinkedIn is a Virus - longer blog post with follow-up analysis
- 2016-03 Evert Pot: 10 years on LinkedIn - Blog post stating that it's too valuable to close the account, but full of "creepy practises"
