It’s Monday morning. I grab a cup of coffee and log in to LinkedIn.
It’s not long before I am rolling my eyes. It’s not a professional networking site anymore. LinkedIn is now primarily a sales and marketing platform with some Facebook-like elements thrown in for good measure.
Let me explain.
Sales and marketing
After logging in, I accept connection requests from people I don’t know. That’s how you grow your network (eye-roll), right? Sure. A network of people I don’t know. That helps a lot.
The vast amount of posts is from people trying to sell their courses, products, and so on. I’m guilty of that myself.
But what irritates me are the sales messages. The generic, “I’ve copied and pasted this to all my connections” messages.
No lie, the latest one was from a guy asking me to buy his new book and leave him a five-star review. I don’t know him, and we’ve never interacted on the platform. But sure, I’ll buy your book!
Maybe I should ask him to buy my coloring book or a T-shirt/mug?
PODs and Endorsement chains
LinkedIn is known for its engagement PODs.
That’s where everyone joins a group and likes and comments on each other’s posts. PODs are designed to trick the algorithm and boost your post engagement.
Now there are endorsement chains.
This morning, I received a notification that a connection I don’t know had endorsed my top three skills. According to a post she made, she wanted everyone to endorse her as well. I don’t even KNOW this person!
If someone you don’t know endorses your skills, does it mean anything? I can’t comprehend this level of fakeness.
No, I didn’t endorse her back.
Facebook wanna be
Then there are the posts about politics and religion. On a business network.
The comments make me feel like I’m on Facebook. They are abusive, racist, and misogynistic.
There’s no point in reporting them. I’ve tried. LinkedIn doesn’t care.
The memes and humorous posts get an honorable mention here. I don’t mind those, but they seem out of place. Hey, at least those are happy posts!
Tell me everything
Then there are the “tell-all” posts.
People spill their guts about their private lives, right there for all to see. It blows my mind.
Pictures of medication bottles, stories of medical conditions, and personal problems—you name it, they talk about it.
I’m not sure why you would do that on a business site. I wouldn’t want a prospective employer to know my medical history.
Toxic positivity
The toxic positivity posts are the worst. The ones that talk about how much they’ve overcome to be the successful they are today. There is even a formula. Once I was down and out because…(Put lots of returns after this statement so people have to click “see more.”)
Then I worked every day for 12 hours.
And today, I am a billionaire CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
You can do it too!
Barf. Odds are, most of these stories are fake.
Don’t bother me!
Heaven forbid you to try to network with someone!
They will tell you in a heartbeat that they don’t have time for you, thank you very much. They expect to be PAID for their time and paid well.
Okay, fair enough. So, why be on a networking site?
People on LinkedIn get angry with you for trying to network—the very purpose of the site. Craziest thing I’ve ever seen.
I’m reluctant to delete my profile, but I’m not going to put much effort into posting there anymore. It’s more of a hassle than anything else.
The truth is, LinkedIn is no longer a professional networking site. It is now mainly a sales and marketing platform. Not an effective one either.
If everyone is selling, who is buying? Think about it.
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