Is it still reprehensible? Sure, but then again, every startup that has ever grown their user base has used some variation of this "growth hack".
Do people actually find LinkedIn useful anyway? Everyone I know has an account, but I have never actually met a person who has found a job through using the site.
Also, it's helpful as a contact database when a former colleague changes their email address/phone number.
The "request an intro" is pretty good to just to see how you're connected. If you know someone in common with a person it tends to lower the barrier of a cold call.
Note: by cold call I don't mean selling, just getting a chance to talk to someone interesting; i.e. you see an interesting role and want to get the real deal about a company
It's great for finding out when people you know are looking for a job. You start receiving recommendation/endorsement requests.
Maybe their aggressiveness shows that they've reached market saturation?
Eventually all the free services do it.
Read http://browserdiet.com/ or http://blog.newrelic.com/2013/02/07/web-performance-optimiza...
I did this with Facebook eons ago and they just kept the data and it haunted me for years. No, I don't want to add people I removed from my address book years ago.
https://www.evernote.com/shard/s74/sh/d88e4751-964e-464b-aef...
Shame for LinkedIn that they do their social linking in such a bad and confusing way. Cheers for the author.
PS: I saw this link in: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6426733
I pretty much tuned out at this point. I don't believe it is (nor should it be) a social network. I have a couple connections that use LinkedIn like others use Facebook. I don't want my LinkedIn connections telling me they had oatmeal for breakfast. That is what Facebook is for.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...
