Sunday, December 18, 2011

LinkedIn Needs to Add a Warning to its Connection Emails

Like most of us, I receive invitations from random folks on the Internet asking me to connect with them via LinkedIn. In some cases they are from accounts with no connections and no reasonable profile. They are clearly looking for information for nefarious purposes. Yet when the email comes in, this is all that LinkedIn says:

"WHY MIGHT CONNECTING WITH SHAMSODIN KARIMI LASAKI BE A GOOD IDEA?
shamsodin karimi lasaki's connections could be useful to you
After accepting shamsodin karimi lasaki's invitation, check shamsodin karimi lasaki's connections to see who else you may know and who you might want an introduction to. Building these connections can create opportunities in the future."

What is LinkedIn thinking? Why encourage me to connect with a potential hacker?
Social networks lose their effectiveness when people lose trust in the overall experience and it is LinkedIn's best interest overall the long run to discourage people from connecting with people they do not have a relationship with.

Let's encourage LinkedIn to add a warning to those emails as well. Here is one potential idea.

"WHY MIGHT CONNECTING WITH SHAMSODIN KARIMI LASAKI BE A BAD IDEA?
If you have no freaking idea who LASAKI is, he might be trying to gather personal information from you as part of a plan to launch a spear-phishing attack against you or one of your connections. Building these connections with people you do not know can create risks and privacy concerns in the future."