On LinkedIn Endorsements
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More than a year has passed after LinkedIn introduced Endorsements. There was a good article about this feature soon after its introduction. I made a comment back then:
Those [Endorsements], however, are much easier to make [than Recommendations], so I tend to agree that they are of much lesser value, and there is a danger of diluting the value of LinkedIn as a source of professional/business information.
Now I finally see the author of that article was right, and I was right in my comment. People do not care that much when giving Endorsements. I have seen colleagues endorsing me for French (I do not speak nor understand French). I have received an Endorsement for Medical Translation, and I do not translate medical stuff, although I do work as an interpreter and translator in some related areas, like pharmaceutical business, organizational aspects of healthcare, legal side of clinical trials, etc. A couple of colleagues endorsed me for Teaching English as a Second Language, and I have never had any experience of teaching it.
I also get Endorsements for things I really do, and I believe I do them reasonably well. The only problem is, half of those Endorsements are from people who have never seen or heard anything I do in those areas. People who never saw any of legal documets I translated, never discussed any legal terminology issues with me, etc., endorse me for Legal Translation. People who do not speak (nor undesrtand) Ukrainian endorse me on LinkedIn for Ukrainian.
Guys, are we all getting crazy about those social networking perks, or what?