linkedin? Can I opt out?

Like a few other people doing this Oxford 23 Things… thing(!), I wasn’t too impressed by linkedin. I like the idea of a networking tool designed to bring people together through a particular workplace or line of work, but, sorry, this just isn’t as easy to get on with as facebook. It isn’t helped, I should imagine, by the fact that it doesn’t have anywhere near the quantity of registered members (and, therefore size of people databases) to search through, and as a result, I am left with hardly any contacts to test the features out on. Worse still, I found it difficult, if not confusing, to search for people I do know. The search box in the top right corner allows you to search for a choice of people, jobs, companies etc, but choosing any of the search options seems to bring back companies only. Even searching for my own name brings back “Carl Jones Design.”

Signing up was easy enough, and the ability to quickly search your email account (via a few email providers available) was a nice feature, but it didn’t bring back many results. The most disappointing part of the sign-up process -a fairly significant part, too- was the lack of a “Bodleian Library” or even “Oxford University Libraries” category to choose from. As a result I have plumped for the generic “Oxford University” thus sharing my “line of work” with researchers, professors and the like. Not especially useful when attempting to connect with work colleagues and those in the same field.

I’m sorry, linkedin, it’s not looking good, is it? I’m inclined to think that facebook is perfectly adequate and better equipped at connecting work colleagues as it is, so is there really need for a site like this? Perhaps I will give it another try when I have more time to play.