In May, my LinkedIn account was legally allowed to drink. Aside the short-lived (but newly resurgent) Friendster, it was the first social network I joined in those innocent, social-curious aughts.
These days, just as in 2005, LinkedIn provides a tangible benefit: broadcasting my professional identity and value to millions of colleagues and companies and giving me a platform to share and learn. Conversely, the Meta companies and Twitter (I refuse to call it anything else) trade in extraction. Bluesky and Mastodon mean well, but the critical mass isn’t there. And TikTok’s no better than a brain-eating amoeba.
In all the above situations, we are the product. Despite that, and the fact that I pay a little into it, LinkedIn is the only social app on my iPhone.
But lately, LinkedIn has gotten noisier, and not in a “great concert” sort of way. More like a screeching garbage truck:
AI slop is pervasive – post text/graphics and ads are most apparent. Personal branding performance art is tiring, in posts and comments. Industry-specific, jargon-laden posts produce record-breaking yawns.
Partisan political rants and preferences are on full, unabashed display. More formatting than content, the in-your-face, non-captioned vertical videos I expect on Instagram snuck in some months ago, too, validating my choice of silent mode.
So a typical LinkedIn meal has become less a trip to Whole Foods, and more a visit to the chips endcap at Wawa: cheaper and empty calories.
LinkedIn says it recognizes this, and in fact has declared war on AI slop. An acknowledgement is promising, but it only addresses one of the most obvious noise generators that limits the quality of the platform.
For many years, and long before AI’s coming-out party in 2022, LinkedIn felt very much like a walled garden separating the social misfits spewing politics, religion, and rage bait from relative decorum and good behavior. Whether you paid for Premium or rode a free feed, the difference was palpable, welcomed by job seekers and others who came for high-minded, professional discourse.
These days, it seems those AI bots and very human ne’er-do-wells have joined forces on the platform … for what end? To sell you a book or webinar? To shove you into a funnel? To worship false political idols? To stay relevant to an algorithm?
If I was not job-curious these days, I would seriously contemplate putting LinkedIn in time out. Off the home screen. Out of the bookmarks. In attention jail, just like the other social apps (see paragraph 2).
For my specific use case, I’m spending more time with alternatives that are helping me surface real career opportunities and human connections without the garish distractions. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far, and I’ll continue adding to this list as I find the good ones:
- Rhize is a Slack-based online community of job seekers supporting each other through chat groups, workshops and other networking resources.
- Never Search Alone is a book-based “job search system” espousing small peer support through Job Search Councils.
- Membership-based professional associations often offer their members a hybrid experience, with an online job board and IRL networking opps. My main association, the Public Relations Society of America, has a strong Job Center with the ability to set up email alerts. I pair that with PRSA’s strong set of online forums, virtual meetings and webinars, and IRL mixers to provide that sense of community I need.
Back to you, LinkedIn account. It’s wonderful you held out this long before taking your first drink, but it’s time to call you an Uber … you’ve had a few too many.
Sober up soon … we’ve got work to do.
If you’re a LinkedIn frequenter, or a Premium member with some material investment in the platform, what’s your experience been like lately? What can LinkedIn, or its members, do to improve the experience? What do you expect from LinkedIn?
Jay Magee, APR, is a communications and marketing leader who helps enterprises strengthen brand trust, grow digital engagement, and move stakeholders to action. Learn more about him and his work at jaymagee.com.