I am swamped with questions about LinkedIn’s recent change to a generic-only invitation process. I have done some investigation looking at it from the most common situations.
Specifically, it seems to occur when inviting an individual from their LinkedIn Profile. There is no longer a customized invitation capability available.
Another situation is not affected. If you have their e-mail address, you can still click on the green Add Connections button and use the 6 per page inviting process. Just put in one person. The Add Message field is still fully operational there.
It sounds like there is a bug. LinkedIn knows about problem and here is what they say:
“Let me start by saying that I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced. Please know that we are fully aware of this issue and have a team of dedicated, highly qualified individuals who are working diligently to resolve this. I appreciate your patience and encourage you to continue to use the other great products and features on LinkedIn.”
Stay tuned for updates as they become known.
Update:
I logged into LinkedIn yesterday and the bug was fixed. However, I also had a message that my account was dangerously close to being restricted because several people responded “I Don’t Know Lori”. Perhaps this was caused by an inability to send a cusom invite message. After all, I am finding people I knew years ago when I lived in Charlotte and looked much different than I do now. So I sent a message to customer service asking for help.
Sure enough, to prove my point, this morning I received a response from an old colleague who apologized for “clicking ‘I Don’t Know’ you, but then I went back and looked at your profile and saw that we had worked in the same” non-profit organization together. She then gave me an update on what she’s doing now and asked me to join her network.
So, I took a screen shot and sent it to customer service as proof. Today though, my account is restricted and I await the forgiveness of the LinkedIn customer service team before I can fully operate in my account again.
