You pat my back and I’ll pat yours on LinkedIn

What do you think about LinkedIn endorsements? LinkedIn introduced these in September, as an easy way for you to recognize your contact’s skills and abilities. Sounds like a good idea at first blush, but do these click-recommendations really mean anything?

Many LinkedIn users think not and are annoyed by the feature, and they’ve been saying so on the site itself. Forbes refers to them as "The Stove Top Stuffing version of recommendations." The general impression is that these endorsements can’t be taken as serious recommendations and that, if you want to recognize someone’s abilities, you should take the time to pen—or type—a recommendation.

I started getting emails about people who had endorsed me some 3 or so weeks ago. Fortunately, these are from people I actually know and who know me professionally (well, almost all). I don’t have dozens of endorsements. And I admit I’ve fallen for the box that pops up when I log into my account, asking me to endorse some of my contacts—I’ve endorsed some, but by no means all -- only those I can vouch for and I would stand behind that endorsement. But then, I am only connected on LinkedIn to people I know and whose work is relevant to mine – apart for a very few exceptions who are friends rather than colleagues.

But some people are being endorsed by complete strangers, which is silly and meaningless.

As this light-recommendation mode gains further momentum, can one really ignore it? If you don't play the game will you be sidelined when it comes to finding a new job or contract? I’m still undecided.