Over the last several months, LinkedIn has gotten very good – I’d say scary good – at recommending “People You May Know”. It regularly pulls up names and faces of people whom I last spoke to 5 or 10 years ago, and even further into the past. Some pop out – it’s found an old friend or co-worker.

Even the non-obvious connections increasingly seem vaguely familiar. Sometimes, if I dig further, I find a person who worked indirectly with me on a project, or their name cc’d on an email to me and no other connection (LinkedIn or otherwise). Like I said, SCARY good at uncovering connections.

Well, two days ago, LinkedIn blew my mind. At the top of my People You May Know list was a former Frameweld colleague with ‘Just joined’ stamped next to his name. He worked at Frameweld for a short stint, just after school, and then moved on. So I clicked on his profile and found it completely bare – only his current employer listed, no other details or info, no mention of Frameweld, 0 connections, nothing else, zip.

A bit further down the list I find another familiar name who has just joined LinkedIn. This woman runs a tiny non-profit, and I helped develop some language for her funding proposals a few years back. Her profile is also bare – 1 connection, nothing else listed at all.

Add to that, these facts – I have never searched for either of these people on LinkedIn; and I have never let LinkedIn mine my email for contacts. Now, if someone can please explain to me how LinkedIn knows that I’m connected to these people, it will help my paranoia subside.