LinkedIn or Locked Out?

Ok, I know, there's been a ton of stuff written about LinkedIn! I know what your thinking....here we go again. Another LinkedIn supporting article that promotes technology, discourages nay-Sayers, and tells you to get on board quickly.

Well it's not.

Frankly, I'm tired of LinkedIn. I've written articles, optimized my site, and I've lurked in the professional recesses of potential clients world wide. I've read articles and books, shared best practices, and even made the top 10 list among my peers.

So what?

After all that, here's what I know, not what I read. This is my '5 things I hate about LinkedIn' list:

1) I hate how much time it consumes to be good at it. LinkedIn power users are spending up to 3 hours a day on this site. Yikes. When does work get done?

2) I hate that employment choices, self promotion, and sales activity has been narrowly channeled through this medium. It's disrupting more personalized channels for networking.

3) I hate the ongoing efforts by 'screeners' to judge a person based on the quality of their LinkedIn profile. 70% of the communicated message is non verbal or written. Have potential candidates, or customers become completely defined by this single dimensional medium?

4) I hate that most of the pictures of people on LinkedIn were taken by poor performing cameras, or good cameras 10 years ago. Either way, they don't resemble the person well.

5) I hate...I now have to email with people sending me millions of $$$ from Nigeria on In- Mail. It was bad enough on regular email. Surprisingly their all sultry looking 20 year old models with bad English skills.

There you go. I've said it. Will I stop using it? No. Like it or not, I know there are a few benefits as well. Maybe LinkedIn is like a relationship gone wrong. More habit and less meaning ;-).