LinkedIn Endorsements The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

LinkedIn Endorsements The Good, The Bad and The Ugly LinkedIn recently rolled out Endorsements, a way to endorse your connections’ skills with just one click. The feedback has been mixed thus far, but here are my initial thoughts and observations: The Good While Recommendations are a bit labor-intensive and easy to procrastinate, Endorsements are quick, easy and painless. LinkedIn even pops up a handy-dandy reminder box, going so far as to suggest which Skill you should endorse for which friend. Easy is good. While reciprocal Recommendations are pretty universally frowned upon, there really isn’t a negative connotation to reciprocal Endorsements. (This may be because Recommendations are so visible whereas Endorsements are just a tiny face box in a sea of other faces.) Right or wrong, when you endorse someone, you will likely get an endorsement in return. So not only is it quick and easy, the effort-reward ratio is pretty high. It adds a bit of a social component to a social network that isn’t always as social as some of the other ones out there (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).