Joi Ito reports that LinkedIn suddenly is popular at PeopleSoft as the effects of the Oracle takeover comes in.
I have been fiddling with LinkedIn myself – not that the Norwegian School of Management is getting rid of people, but as an excercise starting with Christmas cards (going through the list makes you remember people) and finishing with a lecture on social software for my MBA class on Friday.
I like LinkedIn because being on it is limited to work issues, and you don’t give out your life and email by signing up. Plus, it is quite surprising how wide a four-degree network can get.
However, some people seem to have missed the point: That you are only to link up with people you have some form of prior connection with. One LinkedIn member has more than 5000 connections and clearly sees that as an achievement in itself. Since connections more than one degree away requires endorsement from someone who knows you, this kind of defeat the purpose of the network itself. All coverage and no depth.