LinkedIn: Open Invite to Lock My Account.

“The average lifespan of an S&P company was 67 years in the 1950’s. Today it is 15 years.” — McKinsey & Co.

Directly after I posted this, I tried to respond to a message, but couldn’t log in. Coincidence? Maybe. But logging in wasn’t possible…despite the screenshot message below.
24 hours later: (still in the same bizzare “you exist” but you’re locked-out position/ so see “what happens when big brother doesn’t like you”, here).

Hey, LinkedIn,

It’s been a few years since you started ticking off most of your user base. I’ve been quiet-ish (#fightspam), with the personal assumption you’d find a solution to the challenges you faced. I mean, YOU’RE LINKEDIN (now acquired but makes no difference). To date, I’m deemed one of the lucky ones who hasn’t been kicked off your platform for 14 years within the recruiting, HRTech, HR, HCM, entrepreneurial, and people ops industry. After this post, I imagine my live, paid account may or may not exist (User: 3730326). We’ll see. I would love to add flame to the fire and get those not speaking up in the industry to add pressure until you stop being a jerk. The case studies may just come flowing in…

You have multiple groups who no longer respect LinkedIn. People use the platform because it’s the only one out there & people are used to it. But really, most people can take it or leave it. I’m surprised you haven’t seen that through your surveys or lack of response to surveys.

Let’s chat about how you offend multiple audiences:

1. All professionals get spammed ~90% of the time, which creates a trickle-down-effect: they don’t login PLUS the >29% decrease of professionals NOT the least bit interested in joining the platform because of the ^more experienced professionals’ advice (i.e. Gen Y, Gen Z, or the engineers who delete their profiles).
2. Startup CEO’s, recruiters, or whomever is looking to scale their company quickly and need to fill their funnel get randomly blocked out of the system, even with a paid account at $63/month (monthly subscription + tax).
   Here’s where I’m confused:
   a. I assume you understand the metrics of top-of-the-funnel to hire — especially since you report them. Your major Series A Venture Capital backer, Sequoia, has a great example & I’d imagine they’re treated with respect. But what happens when they incubate a company, scaling in hush-mode, and that company is suddenly cut off?
   b. Cutting off paying customers doesn’t seem like the “best” strategy to turn them into premiere paying clients.
   c. Many folks using emerging tech and new tools are first to get cut off. Where’s YOUR education to your users about what extensions, apps, etc. can get them cut off? I can’t seem to find it, but would love to see it.
3. Creating studies with incorrect data because you enable people to create false profiles. Come on. False profiles are cool, but paying customers aren’t? Who came up with this strategy? And who let it run wild, yet still target the low-level people to pay for use?
4. For biz dev, I haven’t seen a dime in my pocket come from LinkedIn and the guarantees you have screamed from the mountaintops within your messaging — and the me-too products you’re building…I don’t get them. At all. With the intelligence you have, I’d hope you’d build better. You were cool until 2012, have created an addictive product for groups of people, but that won’t last too much longer (quote above, and that’s just for 2016). And you don’t seem to care too much about it. Quite the opposite — block and over-monitor your paying users.
5. I’ve made my point.

I DON’T GET IT! The only thing I “get” is that there is a huge hole for someone to come in to kick your butt.

Reality is becoming, well, reality. Some of your new content is cool, but dismissing your paying customer is the opposite of cool. And many people are talking about it.

My reality is, our team can find any professional needed to scale companies of all sizes without a LinkedIn account — so I’m just confused. You’re banking on people not expanding their skill sets, or maybe you don’t care since the MS acquisition.

LinkedIn, my real ask is ->can you give people the services you promise and stop acting too cool for school? AND stop paying people to promote you after they decide they hate you? Because 1. It’s so transparent regardless of the industry leader’s “brand” you’ve purchased & 2. You’re being arrogant — which is not cool, and those who’ve watched companies crumble before know arrogance is typically the firestarter. *FYI, I’m not “purchasable” to change my perspective.*

On a positive note, here’s to a huge cheers for innovation → I never wish defeat upon great companies & original innovators— so my hope is you do “win”. A basic suggestion is to treat your audiences with respect.

Best wishes for you to re-create that “feeling” for all professionals like you did so well in the past — and continue to innovate for the future. I’m pretty sure you have the internal intelligence and assets to do it.

In the Spirit of Innovation,
Marie