Febuary 16, 2016

I don't know about you, but I'm getting way too many unwelcome solicitations from LinkedIn. I love this website when I need to look up someone I'm meeting on the phone. But I don't pay for it despite LinkedIn's repeated pitches on premium this and high-value that. Doubt I ever would. After all, I can just ask the person and usually do.

But LinkedIn's solicitations have begun to reach fever pitch, roughly one every other day coming into my inbox. And then I realized in the last three months, LinkedIn's stock has dropped 59% down to $103 today from $254 in November. The headlines stress slowing growth.

A lightbulb went off.  Does marketing get its spam marching orders when the CEO is anxious about growth? Is that how it works? Does more spam mean slower growth?

I started thinking about other frenetic pitches I've been getting lately. AT&T, Verizon, Flipboard, Strava, even Facebook have been loading up my inbox with screed I didn't ask for and don't need. Are their growth plans suspect, too?

Can't say this is analysis, but it's a hypothesis worth researching.