Ever wanted to swipe left or right on a potential mentor based on their LinkedIn credentials? No? Me neither, but apparently LinkedIn has seen a need and decided to fill it with this hybrid Tinder-LinkedIn monster.
This swiping service was beta tested last month and has now been released to us here Down Under. The only other place it is available is in San Francisco! It takes all the ease of Tinder, which has allowed you to swipe left and right on people you want to bang, except turn it professional.
The concept is simple. LinkedIn users choose if they want to connect with users in their area (sound familiar?), their university or their LinkedIn network. Once you’ve chosen which one you want, users are then given a pile of cards that represent a user on LinkedIn who could potentially be a new connection and the rest is swiping history.
Once you connect with another user who has swiped right on you, the idea is to start networking. However, only time will tell if this is actually what happens on this app. Mentoring is important, but is this the way to go?
I thought LinkedIn was supposed to be a digital copy of your resume but they’re certainly taking it to a whole new level.
There are some concerns about the new feature. According to an article on Mic, people are already reporting being sexually harassed on the site. In this article, many women share their experiences of being hit on through LinkedIn instead of being seen as professional women. One woman shares her experience, saying:
“Oh my God, I am so not OK with getting creepy rando phone calls just because I’m a young professional woman on LinkedIn. Gross,” Kristina King explained to the site.
Will adding a swiping feature to a platform with an existing problem make it worse?
Again, time will tell. Aren’t we lucky!
