AIBU to hate LinkedIn

[Tottiesdollshouse]

I’m not on SM in personal life but early this year I got a new role in a new company (was at prev employer for a long time) and was encouraged to set up a LinkedIn for ‘networking and collaboration’. I hate it with a passion.

The endless boasting, I see people boasting about projects that I know haven’t been particularly successful but to a LinkedIn audience they can pretend it was wonderful.

The AI generated/edited posts. What a load of pretentious crap.

I know comparison is the thief of joy but it’s made me a lot less secure in my own skin/role, which I know I’m very good at to see all this faux fawning on there. It’s also made me think less of people who I thought were quite down to earth who post all this lofty, why use a 5 letter word when a 12 letter one will do shite telling the world how fantastic they are.

I guess it’s like all SM that it’s smoke and mirrors and people post a curated version of themselves but IRL I can opt out but for work it appears that I can’t.

Diligently and quietly getting on with and being good at your job isn’t enough, you also need to be comfortable with telling a load of near strangers how wonderful you are on a regular basis. And what’s even more infuriating is that those people shouting loudest are very unlikely those who are the best at their job. They’re just better at self-promotion. Perhaps it’s just because this doesn’t come naturally to me but I hate it, and I can’t be the only one.

It may be a fairly critical part of their role - self promotion / networking.

Either way… clearly it isn’t for you!

but it’s made me a lot less secure in my own skin/role,

ok so that’s the nub of it

@GYtoday something tells me you love a self appreciating LinkedIn post 😂

Im perfectly good at networking. What I don’t enjoy is shouting how wonderful I am. It’s not in my nature. And yes, it does make me feel insecure when I see how easily that comes to other people, especially those who don’t actually have much to shout about tbh. It’s all so fake. Like the world we live in.

Not even on it
no need
you are lacking confidence in your new role. Focus on that.

You think we live in a fake world?

ok. I’ll leave you to it

@GYtoday I bet you love a filter too!

sorry, off to do my job that I’m not very good at.

Christ, I’ve learned my lesson. It my first post. AIBU is fun.

Woah you are even too sensitive for mumsnet!

yes, back to work good idea

I don't like it.

And as it struggles more and more to be relevant it is steadily getting more and more intrusive.

I love your name @Tottiesdollshouse

I hate linked in, I have to use it for my company but I don’t post on there personally, unless I feel I have to (change of job). Most of it I can’t stand!

I don't like it very much and very rarely post anything. I do have a profile and keep that updated with experience and qualifications as I found my last 3 jobs on there, and it is handy to be able to apply from there with all the relevant info/cv etc.

But I do agree that a lot of the posting on there is the usual SM bollocks that I just eye roll at and scroll past.

It’s become very performative - I’ve seen two people in the past week banging on about parental bereavement. Losing a parent is a life changing experience but why post about it in a business networking tool? I just use it as a contacts point and don’t actually visit it for any other reason any more.

YANBU at all. It used to be a useful and fairly neutral space. Now it's a narcissistic hellhole.
I know we don't like to mention the other forum but browsing r/linkedinlunatics is quite fun as an antidote

Not many relevant people use it these days

Last time I was there it was only the most obnoxious dullards in the company on it.

It's horrific. I cringe myself inside out at some of the "senior leaders" in my field. And the formulaic posting format that they all adopt.

I could’ve written your post op. If you’re just a private person who wants to be quietly good at their job it’s an anathema. Boasting and bigging up shit that is really just bog standard adequate is vomitous. I really don’t know how I can accept it. I loathe those braggy fake types and hate everthing about how pretentious it is. But it seems you have to be part of that club to get on. 😔

YANBU . The way people rush to turn anything - truly anything into a way to self promote corporate drivel is nauseating.

"I forgot to get tonight's dinner out the freezer. Here is what it taught me about leadership"

"I tripped over an amazon package in the hallway. Here is what I learned about resilience."

"I've just finalised my messy divorce. Here is what it taught me about communication"

I have even seen some truly awful ones about loved ones dying and what it taught them about [insert corporate shite]

I don't go on it. Only if I want to entertain myself with secon hand embarrasment.

Totally agree. It’s all AI written, self absorbed crap.

I agree. I have it as we are expected to share articles. I don't mind sharing the technical ones, where there has been a change in the law or an important court case, some people find them useful. What I hate are the 'Here we are with clients at XYZ Winery / Ascot / Rugby etc' or the people blowing their own trumpet about some achievement. The worst are the "I don't usually post about personal matters but..." and then proceeded to show off a wedding photo or picture of their baby. It's so cringey.

The people I know in my organisation who use it prolifically, and love all of that corporate wank-speak, are people who either have no integrity (and I have no respect for), pure bullshitters, and/or the social media needy types ‘me me me’.

It’s a real magnifying lens for the worst of competitive grabby greasy pole humanity.

I hated it too. I was required to have it for work but I never used it other than allowing contacts to add me.

I deleted it as soon as I could.

Yeah it's horrible. Can just imagine Patrick Bateman on there bragging about his latest promotion.

I know what you mean. I keep up to date with some former students on there which is always nice and try to ignore the irritating AI posts in my feed that have been liked by others. I also hate the personal ones - it isn’t Facebook.

Linked in makes a lot of people feel inadequate OP.
But I can also tell you that I know several people on there who have completely misrepresented their skills and career, changed job title for previous roles, listed a tool they had played around with for 5 minutes as a 'skill'...

I hate it too. It's either recruitment consultants or cringey boasts "so excited about x/y/z project...." etc. etc.

Get tae fuck