Pass it On.

Will FriendFeed Kill LinkedIn?

Not feeling the love from LinkedIn today. I just chatted with a new friend online, and tried to add her on LinkedIn, only to have the request denied because I don’t know her email. For those who don’t know, if too many people say they don’t know you when you try to add them, after that you have to supply the recipeint’s email address to add them.

I have only added people whom I have spoken with or exchanged email with in the past. They are mostly in music and high tech business, entrepreneurship, fundraising, and media.  My music and media connections know me through my work promoting electronic music. My entrepreneur and tech business friends know me largely through in-person meetings and social network circles. When you’re a highly networked individual, it’s just a matter of numbers - people are going to forget (or simply not know) who you are because there is a disconnect between meeting in person, chatting, exchanging emails, and looking at the LinkedIn add request page. Other people simply have stricter criteria than “I’ve spoken with this guy about business before” when they consider whether or not to add you.

A lot of people have indicated that they don’t know me on LinkedIn because I know A LOT of people.  In my line of work (entrepreneurship, photography, event funding), the size of your network and sphere of influence is vital to success. I manage relationships with thousands of contacts. I’m sure I’m not the only highly networked person on LinkedIn who’s not feeling the love. I’m thinking there’s a flaw with the logic LinkedIn uses to determine whether or not you’re a spammer. For instance, shouldn’t a laundry list of common friends give you an automatic green-light? Shouldn’t a trend of friends in common with people who say they don’t know you reduce the weight of their denial a bit? I don’t know what their algorithm is, but for the way I would like to use LinkedIn, it just isn’t working for me.

Could services like Twitter and FriendFeed hurt LinkedIn’s mindshare for this reason?  What do you think?