In 2003, a new online platform was created for business professionals to share ideas, collaborate, and grow. Acting as a pyramid scheme to link you to your connections’ connections, and so on and so forth, LinkedIn has emerged as the leading business-professional platform. The age-old saying, “it’s a small world after all” reigns true when talking about LinkedIn.
Social media has revolutionized the way we interact with people over the years, online and in-person, for better and for worse. One may say that’s it great having so many different platforms that are different. It allows us to use each for their own specific niche while fulfilling our emptiness inside. With so many platforms, and LinkedIn being the most “professional” of all of them, it seems lately it’s becoming more and more social.
Don’t Stray Too Far From Home
LinkedIn is the place to be if you want to connect with people who you admire in the business realm. Every day there are great insights provided from top companies, influencers, and peers, which are implemented around the world. If there is a great article that you publish here on Medium, a great way to get more views is by sharing it on LinkedIn.
If you’re looking for a job, if you’re looking to collaborate with freelancers, if you’re a recruiter, LinkedIn is where business meets people. When I was in college, LinkedIn was relevant, but as students, we didn’t find a need for it at the time. But being a marketing major, my professors said that as students it was the perfect time to start building our “professional” portfolio by joining LinkedIn.
Our profiles were built and when they were, fellow classmates would ask about LinkedIn. After familiarizing myself with it and becoming a “power” user, I couldn’t believe that so many people still weren’t using it. I was connecting with companies, fellow classmates, and other like-minded people around the country and making connections. It felt great knowing that I was building my network at a young age.
As time has gone on, it feels as if the content and people have strayed from the main purpose. People aren’t there to collaborate or grow, they’re there out of necessity. Being on LinkedIn has become a game of who can have the most connections or continue to post a video on a daily basis.
I remember getting on and seeing great articles- inspirational posts about succeeding and continuing to push through even when things were tough. Marketing and financial insights to show that everyone can’t be Apple or Amazon, but you can try. But now it’s business-related memes and personal videos about how yesterday someone helped a less-fortunate person cross the street.
A few months ago, someone I’m connected with is in a management position and took a picture with our companies janitor and posted it on LinkedIn. The caption said something to the tune of, “I was raised to treat everyone like the CEO, with the same level of respect.” That’s great, everyone from the top-down should be treated with the same level of respect and dignity, we’re all human. I just don’t understand how that is something that needs to be shared, especially on LinkedIn.
Is it that we’re all just addicted to social media and need to share everything throughout our lives with others? LinkedIn was designed to help promote our successes in business and share our trials and tribulations. For the more personal stories, please keep them to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. It’s not just me who’s asking, it’s everyone.
Winans Writing Consulting 