Thursday, November 7, 2013

I'm watching you, watching me....



In my work, I'm always asking the question "so what?". Sometimes, I can't avoid it, even when I'm not working.

We all know about LinkedIn, but I wanted to challenge the site's ability to show you who has viewed your profile.

When this feature first appeared, I remember thinking, Cool! I can see who's looking at me. Then I wondered, what would happen if FaceBook did this?   Take a moment and imagine that.

But back to LinkedIn.

I've always used the free LinkedIn profile, which allows me to see some but not all of the people who viewed my profile. And the site frequently uses the "I see you seeing me" feature as a reason for me to upgrade. They say that 9 people have viewed my profile and show me 4 of them. If I pay for a plan, I can see ALL the people who viewed my profile.

LinkedIn sees this feature as a real selling point, but why?

I know who viewed my profile - so what?!
What am I supposed to do with that information?

Let's consider a couple scenarios where someone views my profile and doesn't reach out to me directly. (I think we can agree that, if someone views my profile, then sends me a message or calls me, it doesn't matter than I know they viewed my profile)

Scenario 1: The Stranger
If an individual whom I don't know views my profile, but they do not reach out to me directly. What does this mean?

It means simply that they see no value in us growing our relationship to anything beyond strangers. Much like when you stand in front of someone in line. They see you, but they don't introduce themselves.

I could then look at their profile to see who they are and try to interpret their visit to my profile. But am I likely to contact them? I doubt it.

Hi there. I saw that you viewed my profile; why didn't you contact me? 

I don't think this is a good way to start any relationship.

Scenario 2: The Connection
Let's say that someone who I do know views my profile. Why does it matter that I know this? Someone I used to work with looked me up or stumbled upon my profile for some reason that only they know. They don't want to chat or to hire me, so what am I supposed to do?

The answer in both scenarios:
I should do nothing.
I should not care.

The truth is, it feels good to see that someone has visited your profile, even if you don't know why they did. You feel a sense of validation and your ego swells a bit. But if you don't know why they visited your profile - it could have been an accident - this pride is based on nothing. What would give me justified pride is if the person viewed my profile, then contacted me. And, as we stipulated, if this happens, it doesn't matter if I know ahead of time that they viewed my profile.

So while I don't blame LinkedIn for trying to capitalize on a) the data they have and b) people's desire to know who is checking them out, I don't see a practical use for this information. It doesn't pass the "so what" test.

I'd love to know if anyone has found a way to actually use this feature to build solid business relationships. Anyone?

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