I have used LinkedIn heavily for the past couple of years. I think it was around 2017-ish, the time when I turned my career around to become an HR intern, that I started viewing that site as something more than a reverse tinder, where women try to attract men, who then ignore them.
Over the course of a few years I learned how to get the best of LinkedIn as a social media platform. I actively shaped my feed, deciding who to follow, who to ignore, and who to ban without a second thought. During this time I gave this advice to a lot of people concerned about the quality of the posts the algorithm feeds them:
You need to put effort into selecting what goes and what leaves your front page. If you don’t, you’ll be at the mercy of LinkedIn algorithm, and it tends to promote mediocre content, click-bait articles, and shallow interactions.
I was listening to my own advice. And for a long time, I was getting really good quality from my interactions most of the time. I met so many interesting people, learned about their experiences, challenged my ideas in lengthy discussions. I had followed a lot of diverse people. Some of them were using the platform to build an audience, and they weren’t hiding the fact that their presence there is a business strategy and there are monetaty incentives behind it for them. Regardless of that, they were able to entertain their readers with interesting content that wasn’t spoiled by the commercial nature of their author’s presence.
At the same time I wasn’t shy to call out anyone on the crap they posted for attention and internet points. I was told on multiple occassions, both offline and online, that a person loves reading my comments due to my sensitive bullshit filter, witty humor, and valuable insights.
As it turns out, I enjoyed my time there so much, that after reddit imploded on itself in July 2023, it became not only my primary social media platform, but for all intents and purposes, the only one I used regularly. And believe me when I say I tried various options, including a brief return to Usenet after 25 years (yeah, it’s mostly dead, if you don’t count the trolls).
Unfortunately recently my impression of the platform has changed. I couldn’t keep up with plowing weeds out of my feed, and at one point I decided to make an experiment: I abruptly stopped using it. Weeks went by without me even so much as touching the app on my phone. The screen time dropped from being the second most used app to zero. And I wasn’t missing it at all.
After a while my relation with the platform became more casual. I checked notifications once every few days (mostly learning nothing interesting), and scrolled it a bunch, mostly because I had nothing better to do in a given moment.
Recently I came to a sad realization: my feed is again filled with pompous statemens of self-righteous experts who spill half-truths or outright bullshit left and right, either caused by their incompetence or their relentless eagerness to sell you their consulting services. With all the interesting stuff I once encountered here (and is still somewhere out there if I could just filter it out from the noise), I feel too old to be correcting people on the internet.
So long for now, LinkedIn, it was a fun ride but it’s time to stop.
