Want to make a million friends overnight in Linked In?
It’s easy, just set your account email address to one that is used by practically everyone! When Linked in next checks any random strangers gmail/Hotmail accounts they will find your email address and may ad you as a connection. In this case its post@posterous.com an email address used by hundreds of thousands for publishing posts just like the one you are reading. Arjun BS has claimed its his account.
Of course you might be smart and use something like top20@travelzoo.com which has millions of subscribers. Or newsletter@smashingmagazine.com if you want to connect with lots of designers.
I don't believe it can be this easy but here I have found someone who has claimed an email address that isn't his. Is this just an oversight by LinkedIn and using email as the identified owner of an account?
I guess the point I want to make is not that LinkedIn is broken but its to be careful with these auto subscription services, they are usually exploitable. LinkedIn and Facebook have a great deal of your personal information that you don't want to share to just anyone.
Finally there are many fake Facebook & LinkedIn accounts, as these services don't have the "Verified" accounts from Twitter used to reduce this exploit. Recently on NYTimes Mr. Cluley argued, "It’s time for Facebook to introduce a system whereby in order to create a fan page (on behalf of a company or celebrity or band) you need to prove that you are affiliated and authorized to do so."
http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/fake-facebook-fan-pages/
