The only social media I personally use is LinkedIn. Have been there since the earliest days - among the first ten thousand users. Since that time LinkedIn has served me very well professionally. It used to be a way to keep in touch with former clients, co-workers, business connections, vendors and such. Most people were deliberate about who they added to their network. When looking for a new opportunity it was common practice to request an introduction to the decision maker through someone in your network that was directly connected to them. More often than not such introductions produced great results.
When you received an update via email from LinkedIn, it was usually actionable - a connection had moved to a new job, they had messaged you, you received an invite or someone had accepted yours. Each notification could result in some follow-up and so you actually cared about them. Since Microsoft got in the driver's seat, LinkedIn looks more like Facebook and less like itself and that is such a tragedy. The updates from my network and all those that they follow and like is an inundation of information I don't need. It is no longer enough to be a passive actor on LinkedIn. There is an expectation of constant contribution to stay relevant. The quality of content declining in inverse proportion to the volume which grows exponentially.
To that end, people are posting self-congratulatory pictures and videos of themselves in action in their professional lives, recognizing peers and bosses for their accomplishments. Whereas in the past, there was value to catching up with your connection for coffee there is none anymore. You likely caught up to the last hour on what they have been up to. If you are not actively creating content for others to feed on, you don't exist. By not staying top of mind and above the fold so to speak, you become irrelevant to your network.
The lines between professional and personal blur over time with no real benefits to either part of your life. In addition to staying relevant and connected to your thousand some friends on Facebook, you now have to repeat that whole process for your connections on LinkedIn. Employers expect you to be their brand ambassador and spread the word they want to spread via LinkedIn. Instead of shilling your favorite cosmetic brand on Facebook, you now extoll the virtues of your employer on LinkedIn, make sure you give your boss a shout out for being so awesome and tell your intern that they are a rockstar. This is not the venue for the jaded and disaffected and not being active on LinkedIn seems to connote both.
Bring your daughter or pet to work day merits two treatments now instead of one. A new job could entail a move and so the story needs to be told two different ways. Facebook has managed to socially isolate people and LinkedIn at the going rate will cease to be relevant as a professional network. It will increase the level of anxiety around professional standing and relative accomplishments but fail to give people what it once did - useful mentors, interesting opportunities, professional advice, ability to find connections in places where you did not have direct access.
When you received an update via email from LinkedIn, it was usually actionable - a connection had moved to a new job, they had messaged you, you received an invite or someone had accepted yours. Each notification could result in some follow-up and so you actually cared about them. Since Microsoft got in the driver's seat, LinkedIn looks more like Facebook and less like itself and that is such a tragedy. The updates from my network and all those that they follow and like is an inundation of information I don't need. It is no longer enough to be a passive actor on LinkedIn. There is an expectation of constant contribution to stay relevant. The quality of content declining in inverse proportion to the volume which grows exponentially.
To that end, people are posting self-congratulatory pictures and videos of themselves in action in their professional lives, recognizing peers and bosses for their accomplishments. Whereas in the past, there was value to catching up with your connection for coffee there is none anymore. You likely caught up to the last hour on what they have been up to. If you are not actively creating content for others to feed on, you don't exist. By not staying top of mind and above the fold so to speak, you become irrelevant to your network.
The lines between professional and personal blur over time with no real benefits to either part of your life. In addition to staying relevant and connected to your thousand some friends on Facebook, you now have to repeat that whole process for your connections on LinkedIn. Employers expect you to be their brand ambassador and spread the word they want to spread via LinkedIn. Instead of shilling your favorite cosmetic brand on Facebook, you now extoll the virtues of your employer on LinkedIn, make sure you give your boss a shout out for being so awesome and tell your intern that they are a rockstar. This is not the venue for the jaded and disaffected and not being active on LinkedIn seems to connote both.
Bring your daughter or pet to work day merits two treatments now instead of one. A new job could entail a move and so the story needs to be told two different ways. Facebook has managed to socially isolate people and LinkedIn at the going rate will cease to be relevant as a professional network. It will increase the level of anxiety around professional standing and relative accomplishments but fail to give people what it once did - useful mentors, interesting opportunities, professional advice, ability to find connections in places where you did not have direct access.
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