To think that LinkedIn is becoming a boast fest

[Chachachachachachachachanges]

I’ll caveat that it’s possibly the industry I’m in but I’m sick to death of seeing posts along the lines of

“Yesterday I was didn’t have a home to call my own, without a penny to my name. This morning I set up x company, changed up my morning routine and started getting up basically before I go to sleep and running six marathons before breakfast.
Now here’s me pictured next to a Ferrari”

(Translation - yesterday I lived with my mum. I still do. I read some book about morning routines and have gone up and stood next to a random card I’ve flogged some stuff on eBay).

@sassbott

Then change who you’re following? I follow leaders in the ED&I space. Influencers promoting mental health/ wellness. Thought leaders. Companies that put out interesting studies. My feed is full of interesting people, content and updates.

Thought leaders 😂😂

In my feed today they were ripping 'thought leaders'. Was refreshing to see this wanky terminology getting it.

I also really like the state of LinkedIn account

at the cross post @Chachachachachachachachanges. We must have the same connections lols

@Freshprincess haha same industry same thought process! Same wanky posts.

@idontlikealdi

Obviously depends on the industry - there is nothing like that on mine!

nor mine

It's a BS fest😁
I posted this on another thread a while ago
"My employee called in tears because his wife just passed away. 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."

It started off with good intentions.

Now full of dodgy FOREX traders, life coaches and business coaches.

Habe just gone o to the State of LikedIn (thanks for the heads up). Something on there is related to someone I (vaguely) know. Which I guess proves the point.

@SchrodingersImmigrant

It's a BS fest😁 I posted this on another thread a while ago "My employee called in tears because his wife just passed away. 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."

Spot on.

I see a huge amount of drivel. Purely personal stuff. Incomprehensible jargon-filled posts about motivation and success. Memes. Bloody Cheddar videos.

I laugh at most of the boasting and inflated self-importance, but I can’t stand this new thing where people talk about their mental health battles in a way that I think is actually harmful to many struggling with poor MH. Eg I battled depression to become rich and successful and boss of my own company at 25. Unhelpful. If they came from a place of genuinely wanting to give others useful advice, that would be great, but almost all look like straight-up boasts to me. I’d like to hear some real stories about how people with anxiety, depression, etc., experience different workplaces, because that would actually be of benefit to me.

I’ve also become aware of just how many liked posts I see that feature full-length photos of conventionally attractive young women celebrating achievements, whereas older women don’t seem nearly as visible on the site. I don’t know what the answer is as it’s obviously not to stop/shame/discourage younger women, but I think it shows sexism in action that these posts tend to be widely liked and shared, and therefore massively visible on the site - I don’t think I’ve ever actually known one of these full-length body shot people first-hand!

I've deleted mine and tbh, I don't miss it at all. My profile was full of these types of boasting people as well and full of contacts commenting under posts like op has written hence why it was full of it on my news feed. With the comments section on posts, everyone's agreeing with each other, applauding each other which theres nothing wrong but it just seems so fake as everyone's on their best behaviour because your bosses can see it.

@asd99 😂😂😂👍

I find LinkedIn useful for making connections with people I don't know well eg if I meet them at a course

What you're describing sounds irritating!

I work in IT and find it useful. I’ve pretty much secured my current job and previous one based on LinkedIn profile. However a few posts have creeped in that would be better suited to Facebook or Instagram tbh

My corner of LinkedIn used to be industry technical people with occasional posts about job changes and new grads looking for work.
Now it is full of new company promotions either Fintech (UK) or Asians with companies to do with shopping or Blockchain.
The saddest thing is that these are not usually deliberate scams, they think these $1000 start ups from the outer fringes of the trade galaxy are going to work.

They want to join our circle, I am seriously thinking of closing Linkedin.
To be clear my objection to the Asians is that most of our group are UK based. They are thousands of miles away, what chance of meeting them or doing any due diligence?

This Twitter account collates examples:

mobile.twitter.com/StateOfLinkedIn

@Keratinsmooth

I work in IT and find it useful. I’ve pretty much secured my current job and previous one based on LinkedIn profile. However a few posts have creeped in that would be better suited to Facebook or Instagram tbh

Yes. I wouldn’t get rid of it for this reason. I’m regularly contacted by recruiters on the basis of my profile and have gone on to be offered two roles (one of which I hugely regret turning down) from those initial contacts. Speaking to other recruiters who’ve made contact via LinkedIn also keeps me up-to-date in terms of the jobs market, even if I’m not actively looking.

Yep sadly cannot get rid of it either.

I’ve also become aware of just how many liked posts I see that feature full-length photos of conventionally attractive young women celebrating achievements, whereas older women don’t seem nearly as visible on the site. I don’t know what the answer is as it’s obviously not to stop/shame/discourage younger women, but I think it shows sexism in action that these posts tend to be widely liked and shared, and therefore massively visible on the site - I don’t think I’ve ever actually known one of these full-length body shot people first-hand

I’ve noticed this as well. I assumed it was because older women haven’t grown up with the selfie culture so just don’t do it. I wouldn’t cross my mind for a second to post a close up photo of myself in LinkedIn with my thoughts on something. All the ones I’m in are me doing something or with a team of people ie, in a meeting, shaking hands, signing contracts etc.

I use it a lot for work and luckily avoid a lot of the "inspirational" stuff, but there has been a lot creeping in that is not really work related that I find very annoying or cringe.

The worst one was a 2nd order contact which I saw because a friend liked it. A senior lawyer was returning to work after mat leave and posting about how she was already a shit hot lawyer, but becoming a mother and being on mat leave was the one thing she could have done that made her even better at her job. My friend who liked the post does not have children and is an amazing lawyer, and it just made me sad to think that maybe she was sitting there thinking...I don't have kids, does that mean this woman thinks I'm not as good at my job as I could be if I was a mother?

I understand she was trying to post something positive about returning from maternity leave and how her brain hadn't completely atrophied but ugh. It wasn't great.

@Xiaoxiong - I’m sure I saw the same post! If it’s the one I’m thinking of, the only positive is that she was primarily reflecting on herself, whereas I did see something similar a year or so ago that came straight out and said employees with children were better than those without. I thought it was so outrageous I read the comments in the hope of seeing some criticism - nope. Just loads of people saying how great parents were. Childless people viewed as disorganised and immature.

I don’t have kids, so stuff like that doesn’t go down so well with me. In fact, if I saw a manager from my company posting nonsense like it I’d raise it with HR because I’d be worrying I was being judged or the company endorsed me being judged in some way that has nothing to do with performance. I could understand it if women without kids had some exalted place in society, but we really don’t!

It's always been like that.

Yesterday I saw something along the lines of.. my son wanted to come to work with me, he wanted to answer the phone so I let him, unprofessional? No I felt it was important for my client to know what a wonderful offspring I produced etc etc look how much of a family man I am.
I don't share content but its been invaluable for work opportunities for me. I do cringe a lot though.

Mine has a lot of humblebraggers and people who take ideas as old as the hills and rebrand them as their own blog
Yawn....

Not just LinkedIn
ALL social media is the same these days which is a shame when it's been designed for people keeping in touch.

@Northernsoullover

Yesterday I saw something along the lines of.. my son wanted to come to work with me, he wanted to answer the phone so I let him, unprofessional? No I felt it was important for my client to know what a wonderful offspring I produced etc etc look how much of a family man I am. I don't share content but its been invaluable for work opportunities for me. I do cringe a lot though.

I saw this one today. To be honest, I just scrolled on past, seemed like a load of bollocks to me.