Off-Topic Linked in- I feel like a stalker

[LynnO]

Just ugh. I didn't realize that each person you looked at on linked in could see you looked. I was curious and feel like a stalker. I even got a message from someone I looked at but would never want to talk to again (nothing bad, just an old boyfriend who is more - ewww, than bad.) Why didn't I realize this beforehand. Just ugh.

My annual warning about something that surprised me.

ETA I closed my account as I realized that it was an opening for contact for someone I never want to talk to again- in fact they came up on my - do you know this person and i have no idea how they were linked with me. The whole thing is getting ridiculous and I thought facebook was bad!!!!!

I can't believe how creeped out I am.

[Terry]

Sort of opposite: I feel like Linked In stalks me.

Truth: I babysat a kid way back in the 70s. The family moved to another state before I graduated from Jr. High and I never heard from them again. Just last year, Linked In wanted to know if I wanted to connect with this woman who had that kid's last name. Weird. I investigated and it turned out that she is the wife of the kid I used to babysit. NOTHING written anywhere should connect us. I don't even live near where I lived then or have the same last name I had then. Freak!

[CatInTheHat]

This is why I have a fake facebook and a fake linked in account, all tied to a fake email I use when I'm required to give an email address for something that I'm skeptical of.

It only backfired when someone friended my fake-name on Facebook, then 145 of their friends all did too, thinking they knew me, then some guy did and started writing the fake girl incessantly. So I googled him to see what his issue was. He was just released from jail. Awesome. Fake names are the best.

If millions of idiot Ashley Madison users had though to make a fake-name-account, their marriages and jobs might not be in such jeopardy now.

[donnamp]

OMG this is one reason why I have avoided Facebook and Linked In and Classmates!

[LynnO]

I never had a single issue with facebook and the only people who ever came up were related to something I put into facebook. People linked on facebook to friends, people who went to my school etc.

This is a person who is only related to me by my maiden name that I did not put in. And I only put in my colleges. I am pretty sure I didn't put in my company and that came up. My freaking realtor also came up.

Maybe the person regularly looks at linked in - but it didn't show that they had looked at my profile. Regardless, it's deleted.

Linked in accessed something more. Person 1- is not on any contact in any email etc. The realtor would only be on my emails. I did not give linked in access to my email. My company is less of a mystery as its the largest employer in the area linked in decided i lived.

[TinierTina]

Originally Posted by LynnO

Just ugh. I didn't realize that each person you looked at on linked in could see you looked. I was curious and feel like a stalker. I even got a message from someone I looked at but would never want to talk to again (nothing bad, just an old boyfriend who is more - ewww, than bad.) Why didn't I realize this beforehand. Just ugh.

My annual warning about something that surprised me.

ETA I closed my account as I realized that it was an opening for contact for someone I never want to talk to again- in fact they came up on my - do you know this person and i have no idea how they were linked with me. The whole thing is getting ridiculous and I thought facebook was bad!!!!!

I can't believe how creeped out I am.

That person is no piker/not poor/thinks it's going to do something for their career. They sprung for the premium account. Those guys are the only members who could know who looked on their pages in full regalia ... a lot of people may have the name Lynn .....

[LoveVA]

FYI: you can do anonymous searches on Linked In. Others don't have to know that you've looked at their profile. You don't need a premium account to know who looked at your profile.


ETA: for others who have Linked In and would like to search anonymously:

1) Go to Privacy and Settings
2) Click on "Select what others can see when you've viewed their profile"
3) Select "You will be totally anonymous"

Note: When you do this you will also lose the ability to see who has viewed your profile. I'm fine with that, so it doesn't bother me. All you will see is the # of people who have viewed your profile in the past 90 days.

Terry: Here is one way that seeminly-freaky "do you know this person" prompts can show up. The wife of this kid that you used to babysit could have searched for you on Linked In. Maybe the kid mentioned you, the wife searches for you one day, and that triggers a "possible/potential" connection. Now, I'm not sure how Linked In matched your maiden name with your current name, but that is one way that Linked In tries to match people: through searches on Linked In itself.

LynnO: That is why you got the message from your ex. You looked at his profile. Linked In prompted your boyfriend with a "do you know this person" and he then writes to you. He didn't have to look at your profile first. Also, did you ever email your realtor and is that email the one you used for Linked In? Sometimes people will allow Linked In to scan through their email and then match email addresses with those that are on file in Linked In. Those potential matches will show up in "do you know this person" lists for both you and the person who allowed Linked In to scan through his/her email address book. I'm not sure if Linked In can just pull names from email address lists and use that to match names of Linked In members, but it wouldn't surprise me. If that's the case, then Linked In could still prompt you with a "do you know" even if you used a different email for Linked In vs the one you used with your realtor. Your name would be in her contact list and Linked In then find your name and match the general geographic area within its database.

[TinierTina]

Originally Posted by LoveVA

FYI: you can do anonymous searches on Linked In. Others don't have to know that you've looked at their profile. You don't need a premium account to know who looked at your profile.


ETA: for others who have Linked In and would like to search anonymously:

1) Go to Privacy and Settings
2) Click on "Select what others can see when you've viewed their profile"
3) Select "You will be totally anonymous"

Note: When you do this you will also lose the ability to see who has viewed your profile. I'm fine with that, so it doesn't bother me. All you will see is the # of people who have viewed your profile in the past 90 days.

So, you could reverse it? So you could see, say at some strategic time? And take the chance for 15 minutes in your time zone that nobody's looking? And then switch it back?

Too bad you don't need a premium account for a chunk of this stuff ... if you are using Linked In for (extracurricular) means ...

[antbuko]

I closed my account too because I thought Linked in was BS. It never really helped me at all and it is indeed a way for people to check you out. Where else would you put your personal info out in public for anyone to Google. Recently I started getting connection invites again which I accepted, but I haven't updated my profile, no personal details at all and I've made it as private as I could get it to be. I also tried to get Linked In to stop emailing me with updates, etc. I've managed to minimize it but I still get the occasional email.

[LoveVA]

Originally Posted by TinierTina

So, you could reverse it? So you could see, say at some strategic time? And take the chance for 15 minutes in your time zone that nobody's looking? And then switch it back?

Too bad you don't need a premium account for a chunk of this stuff ... if you are using Linked In for (extracurricular) means ...

You could indeed, switch your setting to anonymous, do your searches, and then set it back. One other thing you can do is search for people on Linked In without logging in to your Linked In account. That way you are also anonymous. Depending on how freely the other person is about sharing information (and there are some people who have no problem putting their entire life's history on public display ), you can see either some or all of their Linked In profile just based on a google search without logging in to Linked In.