LinkedIn™ Snipers: Beware! 5 ways to lose your account

LinkedIn™ Snipers: Beware! 5 ways to lose your account

Posted on 07. Oct, 2009 by nate in News

Ok, the word is out… but many of you may not know about it!

Snipers are very devious.  They lay awaiting for you to come walking by and then… WHAM… they got you!

What am I talking about?

I am talking about you losing your account to LinkedIn’s Professionally paid Snipers!

There are countless ways for these snipers (LinkedIn Representatives) to hit your account.  I have talked with thousands of people on LinkedIn and occasionally I get emailed about the following ways people have either lost their accounts completely or managed to have their accounts restricted.

I do not claim that this list is all inclusive, so if you know of more, please share and we will add to the list.

5 Ways you can Lose your Account or get a Restricted Account on LinkedIn™

  1. Name Field: If you have anything but your name in your “Name” Field, you can get a restricted account or even worse, have your account deleted
    a. For example: your name can read “Nathan Kievman” but it cannot read “Nathan Kievman (Toplinked, Invite Me, etc…)”
  2. Spam or Abuse: If you are accused of spamming or abuse regardless of its validity – LinkedIn (rumor here) will instantly restrict your account until you email them requesting verification of the reason why (in this case, it’s guilty until proven innocent!)
  3. 3 IDK’s: Otherwise known as “I Don’t Know”.  If 3 people claim they don’t know you from invitations you send out, you will earn a restricted account or suspended account.
  4. Page Views:  That’s right, don’t get over zealous on how many profiles you want to view, LinkedIn will suspend your account because they think you are “Phishing” or downloading personal information from the site
  5. Non Professional Profile Picture: That’s right guys… in the terms of use, so make sure you aren’t showing too much skin, something inappropriate, or even a business logo as your picture has led to suspended accounts.

That’s the top 5 we know of… please share and add to this list if you know of others.

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39 Responses to “LinkedIn™ Snipers: Beware! 5 ways to lose your account”

  1. Joni Fisher, CSP

    08. Oct, 2009

    Has LinkedIn commented? I believe that this would be a great opportunity for LinkedIn to set the record straight or, at the very least, to provide a laundry list of accepted behaviour and/or specific actions that will bar members from participating in this venue.

    We will all benefit from this exercise as we have invested heavily in our global networks via social networking. Would you agree?

  2. Anthony

    09. Oct, 2009

    Nathan,

    Thanks for your wisdom as always on all things LinkedIn. BTW, you put on an amazing webinar yesterday and I encourage anyone who is serious about business and networking to check it out if they haven’t.

    Related to #3, is there a warning system or would one know if they have received an IDK response?

    Thanks,

    Anthony

  3. Sam Diener

    14. Oct, 2009

    These are all well and good. However, I have to be honest, I get more spam from people who use the “send message” function, because they are in the same group as me….

    I would love to be able to call them out on spam.. Ridiculous.

  4. Michelle

    16. Oct, 2009

    Thank you for the information! A few months ago I ask LinkedIn directly about the IDK’s as every time I send an invite I get a warning. What I was told is that at 3 IDK’s you get the warning, that I am getting. Then at 7(seven) your account is restricted. I let LInkedIn know how I got the 3 I received and asked if I could have my account “reset” as these were also from a while back. LinkedIn’s response was there is no way to “reset” the account and if my account does get restricted I can contect LinkedIn to have it reinstated. Also, they do not have a phone number to call them anymore email is the only way to get answers.

    Here is date and time on the 3 and 7
    Response (LinkedIn – Rosa) 08/27/2009 01:41 PM
    Dear Michelle,

    The warning will appear at 3 and the restriction will be at 7 declined responses.

    Regards,

    Rosa
    LinkedIn Customer Support

    The 7 could have been reduced to 5 since August. LinkedIn is always updating.

  5. Maria Marsala

    18. Oct, 2009

    #2 is no rumor. I got so tired of people I know and invited hitting “I dont’ know you” that I no longer invite people. Jerks.

    And the very few times I do invite, I have their email.

    Why? Becuase I got tired emailing linkedin telling them that I don’t spam. Now I only invite when when I have an email.

  6. Keith Denham

    20. Oct, 2009

    Nathan, Following an earlier but briefer post on this subject I removed certification acronyms from my name field to be safe. I’ve since been informed that they are still allowing these acronyms. Some examples are: BA, BS, MBA, PhD, MD, MCAD, CSM, CHT, etc

    Do you have any information refuting this?

  7. Dave Monroe

    21. Oct, 2009

    I’m very new to this and will check out the Webinar. #3 has me a little confused. Is it okay to send a greeting to someone you don’t know?

  8. Walter

    21. Oct, 2009

    Nathan:
    You must be correct as I filled out to recieve your newsletter, this is what came up. How do I get rid of this restriction?
    Thanks,
    Walter
    waltshan@optonline.net

  9. clement

    21. Oct, 2009

    if it’s true, then it smacks of not letting one get any upside that results from being part of a group, especially when linked in encourages one and all to reach out

  10. nate

    21. Oct, 2009

    Hey Joni, we have asked LinkedIn for their official response to this topic. We are still waiting to hear back.

    Nate

  11. nate

    21. Oct, 2009

    Anthony, there is not a warning system I am aware of. Hopefully they will answer this ore clearly for us all. From everyone I have talked to about this, no one is certain.

    Nate

  12. nate

    21. Oct, 2009

    Sam, to control spam, go into your account settings and change your email settings. NO MORE SPAM for SAM! :)

    Best,

    Nate

  13. nate

    21. Oct, 2009

    Ah, Michelle, thanks for the clarification on the warning! great info!

    nate

  14. nate

    21. Oct, 2009

    Dave,

    According to LinkedIn, you shouldn’t invite people you do not know. The challenge is that it helps expand your network, thus reach to other people you may need to reach.

    Long answer shortened, you can email a message direct via a group connection or introduction, but sending your first interaction with someone via an invitation is probably not the best idea.

    Nate

  15. Larry

    21. Oct, 2009

    Thanks for the tips to be aware of.

    I have heard five for the limit on Do Not Know responses and you’re out, but I don’t have anything official.

    Regarding photos, I have seen several oddities, including logo and caricatures (neither of which I object to). I have also seen pictures with two men in a single photo, a man and woman, family pictures, etc. but there is only one name. A really strange one I saw repeatedly for a while was the same photo being used by more than one person.

  16. Arlene

    21. Oct, 2009

    I tend invite people I’ve interacted with through group boards. If it ends up like we’ve connected, I send them a private message saying I’m going to send them an invite to link. Haven’t had any problems yet. I always check the profile of people who invite me and if it looks like they’re only inviting me to increase their linked numbers or solicit me for a service I just delete the invite.

    What concerns me is the spam or abuse item. I post my house/pet sitting service every couple of weeks or so. I generally don’t think about posting the notice unless I get a daily digest in my inbox. I generally don’t post on any one board more frequently than once every two weeks. I don’t send out e-mails to a list (I’ve gotten those kinds of e-mails from LinkedIn members). Since I only post on the boards, the only way a person would see them is on the digest. Over the several months I’ve been posting the service, I have had the post moved from Discussions to Jobs twice (which didn’t make sense to me since I’m offering a service but whatever) and requested not to post by a board administrator only once. Recently, someone complained that I’m posting too often on one board. There were only 26 posts on this particular board, I had put up 7. The thing is, those 26 post were over a period of 8 months. Obviously this particular group isn’t very active. Now I’m concerned the guy who complained may get vindictive (don’t think I gave him the response he wanted) and may do something that would cause a restriction to be placed on my account. I really don’t think that’s fair.

  17. Jon

    22. Oct, 2009

    Is there a place I can go online to determine how many IDKs I have?

  18. Mary

    22. Oct, 2009

    Hi, Nate. This is a great post. I just received my first LinkedIn warning this week, and I was completely shocked by it. I violated #5 because I posted a picture of a lake with trees instead of a personal picture. Being in HR, I did so to proactively eliminate any potential biases based on looks. I appreciate LInkedIn’s desire to stay professionally credible. At the same time, they need to be flexible and responsive to their clients just like any other viable business.

  19. Jan Green

    27. Oct, 2009

    Members should also be aware of “how members” try to connect. Make sure you screen invitations to connect ~ accepting a “stranger” as “friend” can be damaging to one’s connection credibility. Accepting invitations via “Mutual group member” ~ is a more appropriate connection with “strangers” one become acquainted with in groups.

  20. Ben Taylor

    28. Oct, 2009

    You can find out how many people have hit ‘I Don’t Know’ – go to your inbox, sent items, choose invations from the drop down box and you get your invitations list and the status of each one you’ve sent. Just checking this out and someone I know very well hit ‘IDK’ within the last couple of weeks – typical!

  21. Mary Antoniette

    30. Oct, 2009

    Hi there to all of you; I found these posts to be very interesting and informative as I am very new here to the LinkedIn groups. I was under the impression that LinkedIn is a forum to get people (Linked in) to one another. I can certainly understand that one should not be loading fellow members with spam or pushing services that no one wants, but the rule I have read here, that you cannot “invite people” that you do not know to join and get “linked in?” So then how does one get to know people if one cannot invite people? I guess by just jumping into conversations would be one way; however, who is to say that someone will necessarily remember that you have communicated on certain topics in the past at the time that they see your invitation? All they have to do is decline, I think that sounds easy right? Well… rules, rules rules I guess is part of LinkedIn. Thanks so much for sharing!!

  22. Joe Gemignani

    05. Nov, 2009

    I think it is pretty mean to IDK someone who is in the same group as you and in the same business as you. Isn’t that what LinkedIn is about. Can’t they just delete ??? That’s what happened to me this week. Thanks for listening. JoeG

  23. Randy Schrum

    07. Nov, 2009

    Nate,
    This is a great post! I would recommend everyone share this advice as it will save us a lot of heartache and frustration.

    I wish you posted this about a year ago…I had to learn from the school of hard knocks…

    ~Randy
    http://mycorporatemedia.com

  24. Ciara

    09. Nov, 2009

    Nice blog. Can’t wait to start my own blog.

  25. Dick

    12. Nov, 2009

    Nate,
    I have just been suspended because I made a comment to my network that they need to be aware of a member and his company that are practicing poor and unethical service practices.

    they called my statements slanderous? ( which is a verbal thing?) but I just didn’t want any of my connections to be taken advantage of as I was.

    I can not get anyone to reply to me and tell my side of things and worse I’m loosing business and reputation in my group for not responding to request.

    So no complaints in Linkedin, just play nice children.

  26. Sahar Andrade

    13. Nov, 2009

    Nathan:
    I thought that it is 5 IDK then you get suspended not 3 and now I see 7 do you have any confirmation on which is it?

    Thanks
    Sahar

  27. Enny

    16. Nov, 2009

    Great Tips! Thanks.

  28. Ariana

    28. Nov, 2009

    Thanks Nate, I wasn’t aware of any of the rules, but admit that they stand to reason.
    Personally, I use linked in to stay connected to my network – people I know, have worked with and would be able to vouch for. The purpose of course being to allow others to see my network and help people in my network connect to each other. The purpose is not to connect to as many people as possible, after all, would you recommend someone you do not know? Doing so would only dilute your personal brand.
    My humble tip is this: if there is someone you wish to connect to, request that one of your connections introduce you. Connect for the purpose of accomplishing something not aggregating volume.

  29. Dr. Ellen Brandt

    12. Dec, 2009

    Sam and Others,

    Be very careful that you do not use the term “spam” in cavalier fashion.

    Under Canspam rules, spam must have a “commercial” – or money-making – purpose.

    A link to an article or website you just don’t like or find annoying is NOT spam, if it is non-commercial.

    In fact, I think it is just a matter of time before there are some serious lawsuits involving false spam accusations for political purposes, since such false accusations could well be construed as libel.

    You might want to read my already-influential article “Accused of Spam? It May Have Been a Political Attack”

    http://wp.me/pycK6-21

    And Nathan, I would like to have Flaming made a Linked In suspension offense. There is clearly now a group of Professional Flamers on the service, who go from Group to Group insulting people just because they enjoy it. Literally Cyber-Sadists!

  30. nate

    16. Dec, 2009

    Thanks Dr. Brandt… definitely another way to have your account suspended is this increasingly poor style of etiquette on LinkedIn called Flaming.

    We will get it added, so thank you!

    Nate

  31. Susan Clizbe

    18. Dec, 2009

    I beg to differ with the idea that a spam accusation alone will get someone banned or suspended from LinkedIn. I reported a “member” who was posting inappropriate solicitations for a likely scam business on several boards. I checked her profile and she had no information and no connections – the account existed for no reason than to spam a bunch of groups.

    The reply from LinkedIn was that they don’t judge whether a member is valid, and that it’s up to group administrators to police their boards and membership.

    Spamming may get you banned from a particular group, but LinkedIn on the whole says it won’t dump accounts like that.

  32. Jeff Pickens

    19. Dec, 2009

    This sounds reasonable to me. LinkedIn is a serious professional networking site. Save the clever names and unprofessional profile pics for Facebook and MySpace.

  33. nate

    21. Dec, 2009

    Susan,

    I agree what you are talking about won’t get you suspended. What will however is blatantly going out as a vigulanty trying posting to the group about other group members actions.

    We have heard from 3 different sources that said they posted to their group about the abuse of a particular member, only to find their account suspeneded shortly thereafter.

    Who knows totally, I asked LinkedIn and got a template response.

    Best,

    Nate

  34. Rob

    22. Dec, 2009

    Is there a way to unlock the “I don’t know” restraints? I am in new business development, therefore it easy to fall into this quickly easily.

  35. Name (required)

    22. Dec, 2009

    I definitely want to follow protocol. Thanks for the information.

    Kindest Regards,

    Latonya

  36. Zahidur Rahman

    30. Dec, 2009

    3, 5 or 7 IDKs, but in how many days? Is this counted from the LinkedIn account opening or for a specific duration of time?

  37. Hernán Seivane

    03. Jan, 2010

    Excelent Article.

    What is the search limit in linkedin? How many search you can perfom per day?

  38. Alex Fogel

    02. Mar, 2010

    Nate,

    Good information.

    As an FYI, a review of the published report “Modeling Relationship Strength in Online Social Networks” (http://snap.stanford.edu/nipsgraphs2009/papers/xiang-paper.pdf ) might be an eye opener for you. This, and several other thesis or scholastic publications have contributions from LinkedIn programmers and strategists which explain the “model” utilized by LinkedIn as compared to other social networks such as Facebook. One key component that most people don’t realize is that LinkedIn’s model is relationship-based versus friend-based. This means the strength of the relationships between members has a greater weight than the number of friends they are connected to, and might help explain why certain policies (invite limits, IDK’s, etc.) employed by LinkedIn seem counter to what many feel is the purpose of networking.

    How many people want to learn that building a large network of connections could actually be detrimental to their on-line social networking strategy? LinkedIn programmers have noted that as the number of links increases, the auto-correlation based upon relationship strength between them decreases. This indicates a trade-off between link density (number of connections) and auto-correlation (search relevance). If they restrict the number of relationships it is likely that similarity among users will increase.

  39. nate

    04. Mar, 2010

    @Alex thanks for this comment, I will check out the publications as well. Very insightful!

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