LinkedIn Deleted Me
A few months ago I wrote a post about to be careful who to trust with your data - especially as its value to you increases. This morning I learned this lesson the hard way.
Someone wrote to inform me that my LinkedIn page could not be found. Indeed it's true - LinkedIn deleted me. When I went to log in using multiple email addresses or reset my password, the system told me I didn't exist! Here's a current version of my LinkedIn page as of this writing and here's the cached version from Yahoo.
I don't actually use LinkedIn all that often for business networking but I certainly log in at least weekly to approve friend requests and pass along inquiries for others. I had 300+ contacts in there at last check. So there's no reason why they should have deleted my account.
I am sure LinkedIn will resolve this issue quickly but this should be a wakeup call that startups can lose your data. It's always a good idea to look into their redundancy plans if they make them available. Oh and if you work for LinkedIn, I'd love to hear from you. I did send an email to customer service but I haven't heard back.
UPDATE: This has been fixed and my profile is back online. Thanks LinkedIn! There's nothing like a blog for customer service! I wonder if that's a new model. It's not fair for me to judge. :->
Hi Steve,
Your public profile can be viewed currently at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/0/20/9a3.
You can still go ahead and create a vanity url as you'd mentioned before (http://www.linkedin.com/in/steverubel)
Let me know if you've any questions.
Mario from LinkedIn
Posted by: Mario Sundar | Thursday, May 10, 2007 at 02:45 PM
steve, i had a similar problem with a google page (the now called igoogle). i was showing the page to a friend when it disappeared and stay away for few days. i patiently rebuilt it with all the links, etc. two days later the old page appeared again out of the blue. i tell you i felt it a little nervous about it.
Posted by: gianandrea | Thursday, May 10, 2007 at 05:07 PM
You know, its your bloggerhea and your twitterhea that make me wonder if you remember you are in PR.
You know you have readers here, and that such a post could be detrimental to a company. Would you want your client raked over the coals like this, for an issue that was most likely a server issue? No.
Why not give this company that same courtesy you would want your clients to get? LinkedIn hired a community evangelist. It was not silent about it, and if you read blogs, you might have known about it. How hard would it have been to email someone there - like Mario - before posting this?
What happened to some PR integrity, or your wanna-be journalism integrity? Contact first, then write. Or, in your case, bitch on Twitter then blog, and hope that the company sees.
Your PR hat should be the first one on. But, it's always blog first for you.
Posted by: Jeremy Pepper | Friday, May 11, 2007 at 10:40 AM
*takes out the popcorn* just in case this is something worth watching.
Posted by: Rick Garcia | Friday, May 11, 2007 at 12:30 PM
"I am sure LinkedIn will resolve this issue quickly but this should be a wakeup call that startups can lose your data. It's always a good idea to look into their redundancy plans if they make them available. Oh and if you work for LinkedIn, I'd love to hear from you. I did send an email to customer service but I haven't heard back."
BTW notice that Mario replied with a comment here within an hour of your post.
Posted by: Mack Collier | Friday, May 11, 2007 at 11:28 PM
Ah, the myriad opps in mishaps. Look at how well Mario/LI looks now. Amazing the (favorable) PR he gained today.
'Tis frustrating when data is missing (I've been ready to tear my hair out at times) but it's nice to see the response/repair time is quick.
What's nicer? That Mario would take care of this for any customer...audience to rant to or not (Mario, keep me honest there).
Jeremy & Mack: very good points.
Posted by: CK | Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 01:18 AM
CK,
Responding to a request of this nature would be of the highest priority to any evangelist.
It makes it easier to respond quickly when you hear it first on twitter via a google alert!
Posted by: Mario Sundar | Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 12:58 PM
I feel your pain - the exact same thing just happened to me.
http://thecartblog.com/2007/12/27/linkedin-deleted-my-profile/
Posted by: That Software Guy | Thursday, December 27, 2007 at 01:05 PM