Does anyone else hate the recent navel-gazing on LinkedIn?!

[SuperAlly]

I mean I understand the premise of it. It is also really good for job hunting. There are useful blogs and articles etc. Fine.

But recently I have noticed a sharp increase in braggy, navel gazing posts. Mainly on the subject of working from home, job hunting, mental health, that sort of thing. “Oh look at me and how forward thinking I am with my views on flexible working (that everyone shares)”. “I am deeeelighted to announce that I have been made redundant and now I am free to accept opportunities 🤗” “today I have just finished my first week in my new job and I love my team so much and I love my firm” etc etc

I mean I get why they do it. I do. I’m not stupid. I just find the shameless self promotion over the smallest of things to be so cringe and jarring. Is it that people have more time on their hands now or what?!

I hate it. It irrationally annoys me. But I am required to use it for work (and also like I said it’s great for relevant vacancies) so I am required to look at it.

Yeah, same.

I find the 'be kind', 'look after your mental health', 'positive vibes', 'hey, can I help you' posts all tend to be posted by really toxic people who I would never work with in a million years.

Yes!!

I know. It’s awful. I’m on it and post various bits of company news promoting ourselves. Bit grim. But I try also to like and comment on content from other people in our sector if I know and like them.

I never post any bollocks about being kind or counting blessings or any of that. It’s a business networking site not an ashram

Exactly! The amount of irrelevant shite.

I also get annoyed by the “delighted to announce” posts. Are they under the impression that people are anxiously awaiting such an update?!

These are a weak soup.

The ^"My employee called in tears because his wife just passed out. Not only I managed to sort the funeral for him but also managed to single handedly feed all the hungry in West Midlands, gave cpr to a pigeon all that while working on his project so he doesn't fall behind.
Why?
Because that's what good bosses do, of course."^
Is the real shit😂

*passed away

😂😂😂

Yes, there's a lot of bragging drivel on there now. It used to be a lot more sensible and relevant.

I really hate the ones where they are literally begging to be given a job so they can support their families.

It's a professional forum and I just don't think the begging thing does you any favors as a future employee.

So glad I'm not alone in noticing this - i can't stand LinkedIn at the best of times but was just thinking this morning that it's currently insufferable

Yes, all the self promotion stuff is rubbish. I do think you should give people a pass on what you call the "I am deeeelighted to announce that I have been made redundant and now I am free to accept opportunities" stuff. It would be absolutely shit to be made redundant right now - I've been having to restructure teams at work and even people who in better times would have definitely put their hands up for a voluntary redundancy are sitting tight and feeling scared. There's often a lot of shame around redundancy and it takes guts and sometimes desperation for people to post these kind of messages.

As for the rest, especially the 'CEO husband's views on WFH with children" crap is all bollocks.

There is a Twitter account called craponlinkedin.

It tweets the worst of LinkedIn, and is hilarious.

I have to say that even though it's full of this shit, I have seen nicethings lately with people trying to help others with job hunt and some positive result. It's just drowned in the bs

Glad you clarified, Schroedinger, I was reading that thinking "That escalated quickly!"

@SquishySquirmy

There is a Twitter account called craponlinkedin.

It tweets the worst of LinkedIn, and is hilarious.

I love it! 😂

@BertieBotts

Glad you clarified, Schroedinger, I was reading that thinking "That escalated quickly!"

Though, it's LinkedIn. That escalation would absolutely be possible 😂

Some people in my company have recently been made redundant and have job hunting support.

It appears it's now all about being active on linked in, engaging with other peoples posts, getting reaction and comments to yours.

It terrifies me as I'm crap at stuff like that!

Yes LinkedIn is awful - the fucking self congratulatory anecdotes “I interviewed someone who was crap and dirty and was going to tell him to do one then he said he lives in one room with nine kids and couldn’t afford clothes so I took a chance on him because I’m so fucking wonderful and guess what he’s amazing how good am I” aaargh

I agree.. It's all just sales people pitching their wares by staying in our newsfeed, executive coaches trying to demonstrate wisdom and consultants selling the latest project management methodology.
BORING..
The best I saw was someone who wrote that their kid hadn't done as well in A levels as expected, and could anyone recommend a local company with some opportunities for school leavers or apprenticeships? That felt genuine.

Glad you clarified, Schroedinger, I was reading that thinking "That escalated quickly!"

Indeed. Burying someone just for fainting is a bit more efficient than I really want from people.

There’s been quite a few interesting personal accounts of the impact of sexism and racism in the workplace which I find is really important and it is a good platform for raising awareness of this kind of issue but yes in general it is a self promoting/company promoting tool which is a bit meh.

I absolutely hate it too. I don’t follow anyone who is posting that shit but people I follow do ‘celebrate’ it. My LinkedIn profile is depressingly empty. I don’t really do social media - I put two or three posts a year on Facebook and it usually contains light hearted self deprivation or a picture of the dog. So I struggle on LinkedIn at the best of times trying to share my ‘what a great project to be involved with’ or my little observation on the article - that took fucking hours to write because I didn’t want to appear like a self-promoting, pompous bellend. Then all these tossers are posting all this drivel and my little modest post is lost in the sea of bullshit. I know LinkedIn is important for building networks and showcasing far more than your CV ever can but it’s not something that’s natural to me. Now I worry I have to not only post my projects but all these insightful, awe-inspiring posts just to get recognised. I think I’ll be stuck in this job forever because companies more and more are looking at your LinkedIn presence...

LinkedIn is fucking awful. I am on it, but rarely visit it anymore.

I hate LinkedIn, I find just writing my profile soooooo cringy. Even bigging myself up on a CV is too curling, but at least my CV is not pushed in the face of everyone I have ever worked with!

However, I got my last job through LinkedIn!
Not through liking and sharing crap though (I don't do that). Just by being searchable with clear profile information. They searched for people with my job title, found me and sent me a message to say they were looking for someone. So I sent them my cv.
In my industry I don't think the stupid waffly posts are necessary. If anything self indulgent navel gazing would probably put employers off! So it is possible to be on LinkedIn without being a LinkedIn nob.

Ugh it's awful. I use LinkedIn to look for work (which as a contractor I do frequently), or interesting conferences or webinars or training courses, but the amount of drivel I have to wade through now makes it unbearable.