Bot’s and Spam are a by-product of a process that we all feed everyday through our continued contribution to the attention economy which lives through all of these channels. More marketing propositions on LinkedIn is a dangerous idea though (especially if the auto-follower-army get involved), the users on LinkedIn are the stock and any other promotional activity is going to detract away from the core premise of the site, diluting their online positioning.

Just my thoughts on it, which I wouldn’t have had without reading this post, so thanks, enjoyed the reading and the thinking that you stimulated.

I also wonder if Twitter Lists will somehow be combined with LinkedIn Group memberships. That would facilitate the sort of campaigns you’re talking about.

BUT… like all mass advertising, I believe there’s a serious overload problem. Already, I have had to reduce or eliminate updates from LinkedIn Groups due to (human) bots posting spam. Advertising, regardless of if it’s a direct LinkedIn post or a tweet, unless it’s HIGHLY targeted to the Group, will certainly force me off even more groups. That however gives an idea of how advertisers can be successful: by offering to moderate a Group… to remove spam and spammers… the advertiser not only gives something of value, but also ensures a higher likelihood that his own message gets seen. One Group I belong to is run by a specific company: they advertise their wares, but they also spend a great deal of time ensuring the discussions stay on topic.

I am also annoyed by the constant drone of “Connect with me even though I don’t know you and won’t ever render anything of value through our link” messages. This is the beauty of Twitter: anyone can follow me and I have no expectation of having to interact with them… ever. Perhaps this is the root of your cognitive dissonance regarding putting Twitter and LinkedIn together: Twitter is inherently a push medium while LinkedIn is much more of a pull. The bidirectionality of LinkedIn must be considered strongly when planning ad campaigns there, but the tweet medium makes that less likely.

Dan G
LinkedIn since 2003
<> titudeAdjust

It also gives LinkedIn a bit more personality, which can be lacking in a simple “check out my CV” format.

The only odd thing is having Reid Hoffman and Biz Stone on a video together – it doesn’t work – it’s like the PC vs Mac ad except they both have the obligatory rectangular web 2.0 glasses. Just my opinion anyway!

PS – Is that really Reid Hoffman or is it Mark Benton doing an accent?

Also, I would’ve thought that peanut butter and am would’ve been a more well known phrase…wonder why they chose chocolate over the usual?