In case you missed the memo (and we certainly did), LinkedIn has added a new chapter in The Book Of Reasons Why LinkedIn Sucks.
This one is called “Meh, you guys didn’t really need an Events section anyway, right?”
Idiots.
Well that’s just awesome…
I just randomly happened to notice that the Events tab was gone this morning when I was looking to make a quick update to something, and couldn’t find it.
So I went to one of our event listings here on the site, where we always include the LinkedIn event listing, and clicking on one of those links to drop into the Events app.
Surprise! I didn’t get our event loaded…what I got was this message:
“LinkedIn will be shutting off the LinkedIn Events application effective November 26, 2012.
At LinkedIn, we want to provide a simple and efficient experience for all members. So from time to time, we take a look at our set of features to evaluate how they’re being used by our members. Part of this process sometimes means we decide to eliminate a feature, so we can better invest our development resources in building more great LinkedIn products for members like you.
There are still many ways to spread the word about upcoming events. You can always share links about events from your homepage, or in relevant groups.”
Well isn’t that special?
Now that Facebook has launched their Jobs application, you would think that LinkedIn would be desperately trying to not only keep whatever features they have that make them value-add to professionals, but add new ones as well…not take them away.
So color me stupid, and sure, maybe I missed the memo somewhere along the way…but I just added in an event to the Events section last week. You don’t think that maybe there should’ve been a screen somewhere in that process that would’ve said “Hey, moron who missed the memo…we’re shutting down the Events platform next week, so don’t bother adding this in.”
That’s just annoying and rude.
Not only that, but they’ve taken away what was a very valuable communication tool for groups like ours. They build a platform that’s designed to enhance connections and communication between professionals, and guess what? Professionals like to meet…at events.
So the moral of the story here is that expect us to ramp up our efforts to get the hell away from LinkedIn as a whole. We’ve been annoyed for a long time, but the Events platform at least gave us a value-add resource within the site to make it worthwhile for us to continue playing there.
That’s gone…and there aren’t too many value-adds left.
Sure, we’ll always have a “presence” there…that’s unavoidable…but I don’t expect us to be doing too much more with it.
So we’ll be focusing more and more on our Facebook page – http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD – and our Meetup group – http://meetup.ITinTheD.org – as our communication platforms outside of LinkedIn. Make sure you’re in touch with us there, as well as here on the site and on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD .
UPDATE:
So, I wrote a note in through LinkedIn’s support area about this.
Here, in it’s entirety, is the response I got back:
“Hi David,
Thanks for reaching out to me regarding this feature. The LinkedIn Events application is no longer supported as of November 26, 2012.
At LinkedIn, we want to provide a simple and efficient experience for all members. So from time to time, we take a look at our set of features to evaluate how they’re being used by our members. Part of this process sometimes means we decide to eliminate a feature, so we can better invest our development resources in building more great LinkedIn products for members like you.
There are still many ways to spread the word about upcoming events. You can always share links about events from your homepage, or in relevant groups. Here’s how: https://help.linkedin.com/app/
Have a great day and thanks for being a valued member of LinkedIn since 2004!”
Have you heard that commercial about insurance on the radio lately? The one where the guy calls in, asks about his insurance coverage, and the lady at the insurance company says “Did you get a pamphlet when you joined our insurance program? It’s all in the pamphlet! Have a nice day!”
Ridiculous.