John Y’s Musings from the Middle: LinkedIn & Peeping Tom

The new LinkedIn Peeping Tom notification.

That’s what I’m calling it anyway.

I miss the good ole days when you could look at someone’s resume profile and not feel dirty.

LinkedIn has a new feature “Someone just viewed your profile.” And I gotta say it’s a little creepy. I don’t think I like it.

I just got a notice about somebody looking at my profile.

My first.

And I went and looked at their profile so they will be notified—notified that I know they are peeking at my profile and trying to go unnoticed. But aren’t.

I hope this is the message that LinkedIn intends for users to send. It seems a little odd, though, if you ask me.

Then again, maybe I’m being proactive. Another possible consequence of this new service is that it will become customary to “return the favor” when someone peeks (or peeps) at your profile. So that if someone peeps at you and you don’t return the favor, it could be construed as an insult –like being dissed?

Not sure I see a lot of good coming from this new LinkedIn innovation.