There are lots of ways to launch a beta but SocialMinder (no link love for you!) illustrated how NOT to do it yesterday.

At first blush, SocialMinder looks like an interesting service as a way to manage your LinkedIn and GMail contacts. After getting an invite from a friend who bubbled enthusiastically about it, it seemed like a no-brainer to check it out.

The problem is that during the sign up process, SocialMinder spams all your contacts, which is probably how I got an invitation. Even though I think – and I stress, think – caught on to what SocialMinder was doing and only send invitations to a few people, when I heard about this sneaky move, I was not a happy camper.

It was such an under-handed surprise that I changed by GMail and LinkedIn passwords, deactivated my SocialMinder account and put a few messages on Twitter.

Now SocialMinder may, in fact, be a solid, useful service but first impressions often mean everything, and yesterday SocialMinder blew.

So, if you get an e-mail message that looks like this be extremely careful. In particular, check out this sentence: “I have arranged for you to get a priority account”. Sorry, the person who sent you the invite did not get you a priority account.

SocialMinder is an online assistant that helps you maintain relationships with your LinkedIn network.

I thought that you might appreciate a free invitation to the “closed” alpha test of SocialMinder.

SociaMinder:
* Scans your email headers and maps them to your LinkedIn network
* Identifies relationships that need strengthening
* Helps identify recent business news to discuss with each contact, no matter how out of touch you are
* You get weekly updates identifying top opportunities to build a better network

I have arranged for you to get a priority account;
1) Go to http://www.SocialMinder.com , and
2) Click on the green button (‘sign me up’)

You are on the priority list, but your space is only held for 3 days.

And the price is FREE…

Hope that it works for you!
.
Karin

PS- let me know what you think…

Technorati Tags: beta, socialminder, spam