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When Did LinkedIn Become the Dorky Social Network?
- Mountain_Skies 3y agoLinkedIn reminds me of a dog doing tricks for its master to win treats, but in this case, the employees and job seekers are the dogs and corporate HR departments are the master.
- Quinzel 3y agoIt’s honestly so cringe worthy I can hardly bring myself to login to it anymore.
- SilasX 3y agoIt’s for that reason they started the subreddit /r/LinkedInLunatics.
- Scoundreller 3y agoIs Yammer still a thing? It’s like LI but imagine it being run by HR busybodies not trusted to do anything else.
- andrewstuart 3y agoIt's all stories of motivation with an unexpected twist at the end. Or people announcing they got a certification. Usually people you don't know.
- nness 3y ago> Even though you’re increasingly being annoyed by recruiters LinkedIn does little to stop it. ... I joined LinkedIn to connect with recruiters. Why would anyone want a professional social network if you aren't specifically job searching or seeking clients? I don't feel the author has made a clear point here. Yes, the model has switched from companies posting content to individual posting content, but I don't understand how that is a problem. It's a mechanism for businesses and professionals to connect. What does the author expect it to be?
- DoingIsLearning 3y agoI think it's mostly about signal to noise ratio. Plenty of shotgun recruiters (probably working for agencies with unrealistic targets) find some keyword to latch onto and go full shotgun approach. I have had _for_the_same_profile_ people asking me to do contract work for: PCB design, FPGA design, DSP algorithms, Regulatory Affairs, Computer Vision. I can assure I do not have that breadth of experience. You've read my profile and found my past experience relevant for a contract gig or FTE? Great! You are keyword searching and spamming, yeah that is really not high-value and a bit of a time sink for the people getting contacted.
- blitzar 3y ago> Why would anyone want a professional social network if you aren't specifically job searching or seeking clients? Sales. Which is (one of the reasons) why there is so much cringe on linkedin.
- tompandolfi 3y agoI have never read a good post on LinkedIn. Not one, ever. For me, it has always been motivational quotes and self-applauding stories.
- nickserv 3y agoOne time somebody actually drunk LinkedIn a whole bunch of shit on their coworkers, that was pretty funny. The post was obviously deleted afterwards.
- TRiG_Ireland 3y agoSo you don't follow Hank Green on LinkedIn? He's conquered most other social media sites, and now has his sights set on LinkedIn. He's brilliant.
- Version467 3y agoIs he still posting there? I would’ve guessed that project is on halt with him having cancer and all.
- Spooky23 3y ago“I’m humbled to announce that I was nominated as one of the ‘40 under X top Y in the USA. I’m reminded of the famous quote from Dr Martin Luther King, where he said: ‘Yes’.”
- jmye 3y ago
- nickserv 3y agoWhen was it not? Only reason to go on for me is when looking for work. You can see available offers, chat with recruiters, see if anyone you know is working in a potential company, and that's about it. It's not like I'm going there for entertainment or insights into the nature of the universe.
- satisfice 3y agoAll unmoderated social networks are either dorky or abusive. Dorky is actually the best case scenario. Hacker News is dorky/abusive, too. Have you noticed? When strangers interact with each other, that’s what happens.
- Zandikar 3y agoWhat's your definition of unmoderated? Did you mean uncurated?
- satisfice 3y agoI mean no human moderators to break up fights and assure adherence to terms and conditions. Algorithms don't cut it, for me. "Voting" is no substitute, either.
- Zandikar 3y agoBoth HN and LinkedIn have moderators that do just that, they're not algorithms. LinkedIn sucks imo, but to claim that either but especially HN is unmoderated or has no moderators is certainly untrue.
- satisfice 3y agoYou say it's untrue. I guess you are technically, right, because the word "moderator" appears in the FAQ a few times. So, I should be more specific. In the years I have been using HN and commenting, I have never seen a moderator visibly intervene to enforce the submission guidelines for comments. Perhaps they intervene by silently killing threads in extreme cases? I've never seen a moderator write anything AS a moderator to improve an interaction. The guidelines say don't be snarky. But I've gotten a lot of snark from people in comments. I've dished out the snark, as well. Nobody stops them. Nobody stops me. This is what I'm talking about. The few forums I'm on that are consistently professional and non-dorky have visible moderators. We know who they are. They comment on what's happening. They give warnings. That's what I mean by moderation.
- jacknews 3y agoI'm not sure about 'dorky' or even what that really means, but the 'toxic positivity' from there can be really draining and fills me with dread that this is now what you are expected to be like.
- jacknews 3y agoJust an example: I am thrilled to share some exciting news with all of you today! I am overjoyed to announce that I have recently started a position as a XXXX at XXXX. This new role presents a fantastic opportunity for growth, and I am incredibly grateful for the chance to contribute to an exceptional team of talented professionals. First and foremost, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to my current line manager, XXXX I am truly grateful for the trust he has placed in me and for the numerous opportunities he has provided to hone my skills and expand my knowledge. Secondly, I would also like to express my gratitude to my incredible colleagues and friends who have supported me throughout my career journey. Your unwavering belief in my abilities and your encouragement have been invaluable, and I am honoured to have such an amazing network of individuals by my side. Lastly, I am thrilled to embark on this new chapter and contribute to the growth and success of XXXX. I look forward to collaborating with talented individuals as ..., leveraging new technologies, and driving impactful results that will make a difference in people's lives ... Thank you all once again for your continuous support, and here's to a new and exciting chapter ahead! I mean I'm genuinely happy for this person, but is this really the new normal for got-a-new-job announcements? It's more like an Oscars award speech.
- Quinzel 3y agoIt reads like this: “Me me me [trendy buzzword] me me me [gratitude]. [positive statement with no substance] me me me [another trendy buzzword]. Me me me [statement that implies I am exceptionally successful, without explicitly stating that because that would be arrogant and narcissistic] me me me [more buzzwords]. [Token statement to acknowledge others] me me me. [buzzword buzzword buzzword] [insincere gratitude]. And do you know whose employee’s are the worst for doing this… GOOGLES!!(from my perception anyway). They drive me nuts. With their posts that read pretty much exactly like how you just described, with a picture of themselves next to a big G.
- anyoneamous 3y agoI hate it, in a way which feels distinct from other social media on the surface since the users are so different, but which has the same root cause: they encourage some form of bragging and immodesty as the default communication style.
- mattgreenrocks 3y agoNarcissism is even more intolerable on a professional context because there’s a parallel universe of business culture bullshit people can draw upon.
- daenney 3y agoI would not consider LI to be a fun/dorky social media platform. At least for me, it's mostly forced positivity with a side dish of scams and a bunch of recruiter spam. Remember you can hibernate[1] your LI account if you want. It can spare you the nonsense while still allowing you to easily return to the platform when you're out looking for work. [1]: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a1336653/hibernate-your-linkedin-account https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a1336653/hiber...
- ryandvm 3y agoLinkedIn is the social network your current and future employers/clients will see and as such, it's every bit as anodyne and synthetic as that would entail. It's a social network in the same way team-building excursions are recreation - seemingly so, but actually not.
- drewcoo 3y agoLI postings feel as if some people looked at Despair posters and decided to put a positive spin on them. https://despair.com/collections/posters https://despair.com/collections/posters
- OldGuyInTheClub 3y agoI think Despair has been lampooning the LI mindset before LI even existed! I had an LI account for about three months 10 years ago. Could not stomach the unironic Babbitty codswallop that was on it.
- Quinzel 3y agoThese are great!
- blitzar 3y agoIt always was.
- kaliqt 3y agoWorse, it's all bullshit.
- JoeDaDude 3y agoLinkedIn is strictly for business, unlike all other social media. My business is best conducted within certain confines so I never post, or reply to posts on LinkedIn. The people that start posting opinions on politics or or any of a number of topics are risking career suicide.
- techdragon 3y agoI don’t believe that objectively you can call LinkedIn “strictly for business” these days. Unless you want to count “pretending to do business” “lying about the business you do/have done” “pretending you have job offers” and all the other performative business LARPing at business positivity that goes on as “business”… at best it’s puffery at worst it’s fraud… and that’s arguably the most business part of LinkedIn, the people trying to scam other people into their business books and training courses… but it’s basically just scams at the end of the day. How can this be called “strictly for business”? I’ve recently been pushed back into the toxic cesspool that is LinkedIn due to trying to work with aerospace companies and other industries where I don’t have established personal connections and relationships to rely on, and I hate every time I visit the website or open the App… it literally oozes insufferably fake, toxic mental health damaging stuff… You are right on the motivation though, it’s recruitment spam or fake bullshit business cult stuff because anything else will absolutely hurt your career… which is why even I’ve been tempted to get chatgpt to write some positive shit for me (because I refuse to try and make myself think up that kind of shit, however I have had to read enough of it I can proof read some and decide if I’m comfortable posting it)
- aftoprokrustes 3y agoRe politics: it really depends. I work in a field tightly linked to policy, and have contacts in other fields linked to the ecological transformation. Lots of them post politically loaded posts related to their area of expertise (some even selfies in demonstrations), and I think it actually serves them. Basically, it gives trust in their commitment to their topic, and that they are not only there for the paycheck.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- fuzzfactor 3y agoI thought it was useful until you had to log in before you could see most pages any more.
- 010101010101 3y ago> Let me preface this LinkedIn execs — if any of you come a calling with a job, I’ll shoot someone. The audacity of this is peak LinkedIn.
- plaguepilled 3y agoLinkedIn is an exceptional negative filter and will forever appreciate that about it. If a company willingly self-identifies itself with things like blockchain, AI, or even just feel-good word salads, I know not to apply there.
- cableshaft 3y agoThere are companies that don’t associate with feel-good word salads on LinkedIn? Not sure I’ve seen any. Or at least any company that’s ever posted on there seems to have that.
- southwesterly 3y agoI’m not sure it’s dorky. It’s more strained humblebragging wrapped in a CV viewer.
- thatgerhard 3y agoI would say right from the beginning, even before MS bought it, it was always at the very best second tier
- cafard 3y agoWhen I joined it? I don't spend a lot of time on it. It has proven useful to me, in that cousins and I have found one another on it, and a college friend or two found me.
- hiidrew 3y agousing https://read.cv/ https://read.cv/ as my 'online resume' now
- 0xbadc0de5 3y agoOver the last few years, I've found myself needing to block/mute/unfollow with increasing regularity. There's much, much more irrelevant noise polluting LinkedIn than there used to be. The key appeal of LinkedIn used to be that it was a place to maintain your professional network (keyword: professional). I don't give a flying fuck about your kids, your cancer, your politics, your motivational quote of the day or your vacation. The further LI stray from their core value proposition, the less relevant they are.
- noaoh 3y agoWhen it became popular enough that your boss started trying to follow you
- vicaya 3y agoLI is an interesting data source for the pulse of economy (at least in my echo chamber :). I don't even need to log in, just a quick glance in my LI email folder would tell a lot.