Has Linkedin blown it with its new 'social popularity' tool?

I have to confess that I have never been a big fan of Linkedin. Probably wrong of me, but from the start it nagged me too much with repetitive alerts and updates. Groups were gradually taken over by sellers rather than debaters - which is fair enough, just not my thing. The news then, that Linkedin has introduced a new 'ranking' tool made me cringe, reminiscent as it is of high school popularity contests and all the angst that goes with them.

Now I am sure for many people Linkedin is a wonderful place and many have built successful careers around the network but the new ranking tool? I think it brings another social  pressure to bear on users, will reduce the confidence of those who are using it to look for work and will ultimately deter others from engaging with the plaform.

The Linkedin Pulse feature launched a little while ago brought some interesting discussions to users but the ranking system just smacks of a cheap version of the type of silliness found in places like the original manifestation of Klout. Ah yes - and the new ranking doesn't function terribly well either, currently getting stuck while it 'crunches the numbers'. Let's hope at least that will improve.