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LinkedIn is an business card / CV storage site, where you can find a job. If it was just a bunch of linked profiles with a job matching function, it would stil

LinkedIn is an business card / CV storage site, where you can find a job. If it was just a bunch of linked profiles with a job matching function, it would still be LinkedIn. But of course, you can't work at a place that does something that mundane without suggesting something that makes you look like Facebook or Twitter. You have to at least give people some sort of reason to see what their old colleagues are up to. Nobody really wants to read the LinkedIn feed, so it's perfectly acceptable that it gets flooded with AI generated content. In effect, the content on LinkedIn is that picture of a happy family on your insurance brochure. You can't not have a photo of something on that kind of marketing document, and you can't be a social network without some sort of doom-scrollable content. This is just a cheap way to generate some wallpaper.

JohnMakin 2y ago
>Nobody really wants to read the LinkedIn feed, I mean, not nobody. I follow a lot of people that post very thoughtful things that spark discussion, and it's one of the only places I know of other than here where I can discuss topics related to my career or field with peers, and for me that's useful.
- JohnMakin 2y ago
  Lol, why is this getting downvoted? You want empirical evidence? You think this is made up? I’ve literally gotten contracts based on discussions I’ve had on my linkedin feed. Maybe your feed sucks or you have nothing interesting to say. It is far easier to curate a linkedin feed than ANY other social media app out there.
  - hsbauauvhabzb 2y ago
    I don’t care that much for karma, but I have a feeling every comment on this entire article is getting downvoted
    - JohnMakin 2y ago
      That’s a fair point. I don’t care about karma either but try to use it as a signal as to whether I’m making good contributions to the site or not, which is usually fairly reliable. Maybe I should have included a list of my favorite follows, had considered that, but it’d probably out me more than I’d like.
- elric 2y ago
  I really wish LinkedIn had features to filter out all the garbage from the feed. 90% is someome I know liking garbage that was posted by someone I neither know nor care about.
  - fernandopj 2y ago
    LinkedIn was changed over the years to promote users who write on the platform. Not just about viewership - if you are applying to positions, LinkedIn gives preference to candidates who are more engaged ON the network (posts, likes, comments, Pulse) over lurkers. [1] So this is only getting worse. You'll have to see a lower quality feed just because the algorithm is forcing everyone to boost their own metrics anyway. [1] https://www.linkedin.com/sales/ssi https://www.linkedin.com/sales/ssi - See your own tracking, look at the metrics description
    - JohnMakin 2y ago
      How is this different or worse than any other social media platform? again, this feed is far easier to curate than any other social media app.
      - fernandopj 2y ago
        You would build a resume/recruitment platform, which has revenue directly related to how well it connects both parties, and recommend candidates over others due to metrics completely unrelated to their proficiency and job match?
janalsncm 2y ago
It really make me think. If LI was just business profile, jobs board, and chat with recruiters, how much engineering would they need? I’m not saying to go Twitter mode and fire everybody, but certainly much less than now. So for that extra revenue from the feed, a lot of it will be eaten up by salaries for extra engineers. All of the extra work is going towards something largely viewed as useless. Zooming out, I bet a lot of the economy is like this. In LI’s case literally some of the smartest people, people with PhDs who were maybe even born in another country, thinking for 40 hours a week about how to rank one piece of meaningless drivel above another one. This is instead of solving real, tangible problems that everyone can see. Ok maybe those people will pay taxes and end up contributing to something like education because they have to, but it’s a pretty inefficient way of making the world better.
- wmeredith 2y ago
  You should check this out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs
  - steve_adams_86 2y ago
    I should read this. I really struggle with doing work which falls into this category. It’s bad for me, and even worse it strikes me as seriously problematic to society. I don’t want to earn money for nothing, even if most people involved feel as though that in itself is worthwhile. It has been a fairly significant factor in any struggle I’ve had finding work. I have to ask myself, is this a bullshit job? The answer is often yes. I’ve recently remedied this to a degree by lowering salary expectations and looking in fields with a more scientific and practical basis in the products and outputs. Unfortunately I’m not a scientist, only a programmer, so my utility is seriously limited and finding work is quite a bit harder than if I were to stick within the SV startup scene.
  - coding123 2y ago
    While I don't disagree with the notion of the existence of BS jobs, UBI is not needed. Instead we need more companies to take on more and more interesting and world-solving things. We keep saying we need UBI but at the same time "we don't have enough homes". Then instead of UBI, maybe people should "make homes"? (That's just one example - there are also jobs in food, healthcare, mental illness care, spacecraft, etc...
lysecret 2y ago
I agree this is how I (an engineer) use it too. But I suggest you talk to some more business people. They live on LinkedIn.
- BLKNSLVR 2y ago
  You've succinctly described how business people are part of the problem, not the solution.
  - mcmcmc 2y ago
    If you’re not part of the primary user base, how would you know the problem?
    - krageon 2y ago
      Their culture and personality is the problem. I think there are very few people on earth that have never met one of these people.
Gethsemane 2y ago
It is a shame. Twitter used to be quite a popular platform for (useful and interesting) networking in academia, but after it began to fall apart everyone started looking for alternatives. I felt that LinkedIn should be a decent alternative as it could strike that balance between professional and personal content, but there is just no way for a genuine community to develop on LinkenIn in its current form. Even now LinkedIn is possibly the worst platform for being polluted with "AI slop", I cannot understand why they are looking to advance this further. Hell, when you go to write a post now there is a big flashing button saying "USE AI TO WRITE THIS POST"...?!?!
- renegade-otter 2y ago
  LinkedIn has turned into Facebook before it became irrelevant - people sharing their irrelevant life episodes and baby pictures.
  - Terretta 2y ago
    As boomers, gen X and millennials took over Facebook, gen Z took over LinkedIn: “Networking as a concept was highly intimidating to me, until I reframed it in my mind as ‘making friends’ instead of the traditional meaning which made me feel like I was using people as stepping stones.” https://www.nysscpa.org/article-content/gen-z--now-networks-the-most-on-linkedin-101123 https://www.nysscpa.org/article-content/gen-z--now-networks-...

JohnMakin 2y ago

>Nobody really wants to read the LinkedIn feed, I mean, not nobody. I follow a lot of people that post very thoughtful things that spark discussion, and it's one of the only places I know of other than here where I can discuss topics related to my career or field with peers, and for me that's useful.

JohnMakin 2y ago
Lol, why is this getting downvoted? You want empirical evidence? You think this is made up? I’ve literally gotten contracts based on discussions I’ve had on my linkedin feed. Maybe your feed sucks or you have nothing interesting to say. It is far easier to curate a linkedin feed than ANY other social media app out there.
- hsbauauvhabzb 2y ago
  I don’t care that much for karma, but I have a feeling every comment on this entire article is getting downvoted
  - JohnMakin 2y ago
    That’s a fair point. I don’t care about karma either but try to use it as a signal as to whether I’m making good contributions to the site or not, which is usually fairly reliable. Maybe I should have included a list of my favorite follows, had considered that, but it’d probably out me more than I’d like.
elric 2y ago
I really wish LinkedIn had features to filter out all the garbage from the feed. 90% is someome I know liking garbage that was posted by someone I neither know nor care about.
- fernandopj 2y ago
  LinkedIn was changed over the years to promote users who write on the platform. Not just about viewership - if you are applying to positions, LinkedIn gives preference to candidates who are more engaged ON the network (posts, likes, comments, Pulse) over lurkers. [1] So this is only getting worse. You'll have to see a lower quality feed just because the algorithm is forcing everyone to boost their own metrics anyway. [1] https://www.linkedin.com/sales/ssi https://www.linkedin.com/sales/ssi - See your own tracking, look at the metrics description
  - JohnMakin 2y ago
    How is this different or worse than any other social media platform? again, this feed is far easier to curate than any other social media app.
    - fernandopj 2y ago
      You would build a resume/recruitment platform, which has revenue directly related to how well it connects both parties, and recommend candidates over others due to metrics completely unrelated to their proficiency and job match?

janalsncm 2y ago

It really make me think. If LI was just business profile, jobs board, and chat with recruiters, how much engineering would they need? I’m not saying to go Twitter mode and fire everybody, but certainly much less than now. So for that extra revenue from the feed, a lot of it will be eaten up by salaries for extra engineers. All of the extra work is going towards something largely viewed as useless. Zooming out, I bet a lot of the economy is like this. In LI’s case literally some of the smartest people, people with PhDs who were maybe even born in another country, thinking for 40 hours a week about how to rank one piece of meaningless drivel above another one. This is instead of solving real, tangible problems that everyone can see. Ok maybe those people will pay taxes and end up contributing to something like education because they have to, but it’s a pretty inefficient way of making the world better.

wmeredith 2y ago
You should check this out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs
- steve_adams_86 2y ago
  I should read this. I really struggle with doing work which falls into this category. It’s bad for me, and even worse it strikes me as seriously problematic to society. I don’t want to earn money for nothing, even if most people involved feel as though that in itself is worthwhile. It has been a fairly significant factor in any struggle I’ve had finding work. I have to ask myself, is this a bullshit job? The answer is often yes. I’ve recently remedied this to a degree by lowering salary expectations and looking in fields with a more scientific and practical basis in the products and outputs. Unfortunately I’m not a scientist, only a programmer, so my utility is seriously limited and finding work is quite a bit harder than if I were to stick within the SV startup scene.
- coding123 2y ago
  While I don't disagree with the notion of the existence of BS jobs, UBI is not needed. Instead we need more companies to take on more and more interesting and world-solving things. We keep saying we need UBI but at the same time "we don't have enough homes". Then instead of UBI, maybe people should "make homes"? (That's just one example - there are also jobs in food, healthcare, mental illness care, spacecraft, etc...

lysecret 2y ago

I agree this is how I (an engineer) use it too. But I suggest you talk to some more business people. They live on LinkedIn.

BLKNSLVR 2y ago
You've succinctly described how business people are part of the problem, not the solution.
- mcmcmc 2y ago
  If you’re not part of the primary user base, how would you know the problem?
  - krageon 2y ago
    Their culture and personality is the problem. I think there are very few people on earth that have never met one of these people.

Gethsemane 2y ago

It is a shame. Twitter used to be quite a popular platform for (useful and interesting) networking in academia, but after it began to fall apart everyone started looking for alternatives. I felt that LinkedIn should be a decent alternative as it could strike that balance between professional and personal content, but there is just no way for a genuine community to develop on LinkenIn in its current form. Even now LinkedIn is possibly the worst platform for being polluted with "AI slop", I cannot understand why they are looking to advance this further. Hell, when you go to write a post now there is a big flashing button saying "USE AI TO WRITE THIS POST"...?!?!

renegade-otter 2y ago
LinkedIn has turned into Facebook before it became irrelevant - people sharing their irrelevant life episodes and baby pictures.
- Terretta 2y ago
  As boomers, gen X and millennials took over Facebook, gen Z took over LinkedIn: “Networking as a concept was highly intimidating to me, until I reframed it in my mind as ‘making friends’ instead of the traditional meaning which made me feel like I was using people as stepping stones.” https://www.nysscpa.org/article-content/gen-z--now-networks-the-most-on-linkedin-101123 https://www.nysscpa.org/article-content/gen-z--now-networks-...