LinkedIn is the fucking worst
December 11, 2020 2:15 PM Subscribe
Fadeke Adegbuyi on LinkedIn’s alternate universe and how it makes professional networking weird with its bizarre inspirational copypasta, never-ending InMail, copycat features (stories! audio messages!), and rockstar recruiters.
so here's my suggestion for all of the retired people, tenured academics, and dgaf punk kids:
shitpost on linkedin.
let's do this. let's make a linkedin shitposting scene. any social network can become weird. let's make weird linkedin happen.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 2:25 PM on December 11, 2020 [84 favorites]
shitpost on linkedin.
let's do this. let's make a linkedin shitposting scene. any social network can become weird. let's make weird linkedin happen.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 2:25 PM on December 11, 2020 [84 favorites]
*slaps roof of linkedin*
this bad boy can fit so many memes in it
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 2:27 PM on December 11, 2020 [61 favorites]
this bad boy can fit so many memes in it
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 2:27 PM on December 11, 2020 [61 favorites]
Oh god, save us from the legions of business school mid-level achievers posting 'inspirational' stories. Bleh.
I've used it 3 times:
1) to wrangle a connection with the customer service manager of a large company that I was in a customer service battle with. It worked like a charm.
2) got asked to interview for Google. Kind of wanted the job. Failed miserably.
3) got asked to interview for Amazon. Didn't want the job. Failed miserably.
posted by signal at 2:31 PM on December 11, 2020 [7 favorites]
I've used it 3 times:
1) to wrangle a connection with the customer service manager of a large company that I was in a customer service battle with. It worked like a charm.
2) got asked to interview for Google. Kind of wanted the job. Failed miserably.
3) got asked to interview for Amazon. Didn't want the job. Failed miserably.
posted by signal at 2:31 PM on December 11, 2020 [7 favorites]
so here's my suggestion for all of the retired people, tenured academics, and dgaf punk kids:
No, no, no. This is too small of a cohort. We simply need to create an alternate universe of companies that anyone can claim to be a part of while shitposting under aliases (in order to protect their careers).
And to think I was going to endorse you for Chaos Thought Leadership.
posted by Ouverture at 2:31 PM on December 11, 2020 [18 favorites]
No, no, no. This is too small of a cohort. We simply need to create an alternate universe of companies that anyone can claim to be a part of while shitposting under aliases (in order to protect their careers).
And to think I was going to endorse you for Chaos Thought Leadership.
posted by Ouverture at 2:31 PM on December 11, 2020 [18 favorites]
let's make weird linkedin happen.As the linked post ably demonstrates, weird LinkedIn already exists.
posted by bixfrankonis at 2:31 PM on December 11, 2020 [12 favorites]
I joined LinkedIn for a while years ago, after a mass layoff at my previous employer, and linked some of my coworkers. I got another job without LinkedIn's help at all. When I realized that all I ever saw on the site were irrelevant job offers from people/companies who clearly hadn't read my resume and frivolous GYOFB posts from my former coworkers, I shut down my account.
So shitpost away, y'all!
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:32 PM on December 11, 2020 [4 favorites]
So shitpost away, y'all!
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:32 PM on December 11, 2020 [4 favorites]
I got my current job off linkedin by using it as a tool. I think that paying attention to every little thing in linkedIn or faceplace or wherever is about the equivalent of reading through all of the email in my more-than-twenty-years-old yahoo junk folders: Sinkhole full of rats, to borrow the headline from another post today. The weird inspirational posts and connection requests from people I don't know I just ignore, delete, block, and report if I'm feeling bored. All are tools that we shape by use. Just like here.
posted by th3ph17 at 2:32 PM on December 11, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by th3ph17 at 2:32 PM on December 11, 2020 [8 favorites]
If you want something nicer, the French have come up with LinkedOut, which helps homeless people get jobs by providing a network for people who don't have one.
posted by clawsoon at 2:37 PM on December 11, 2020 [32 favorites]
posted by clawsoon at 2:37 PM on December 11, 2020 [32 favorites]
My team uses it a lot to gather target data for social engineering exercises (phishing etc.), because people's LinkedIn networks tend to be far larger than other social media profiles (on average - guess its hard to not accept a coworkers / bosses / key vendor's invite) and tend to be more open on LinkedIn then other social networks - and people have way more of their *work* related data in there profiles - so if I want to know who the SAP administrators are, or a Patient-Care admin in a Healthcare team etc. it nicely helps narrow down specific targets for spear-phishing etc.
Wait. Was I supposed to say that?
posted by inflatablekiwi at 2:44 PM on December 11, 2020 [67 favorites]
Wait. Was I supposed to say that?
posted by inflatablekiwi at 2:44 PM on December 11, 2020 [67 favorites]
I keep forgetting the crazy fact that LinkedIn is now owned by Microsoft. (And that LinkedIn bought Lynda.com and rebranded it "LinkedIn Learning")
posted by gwint at 2:46 PM on December 11, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by gwint at 2:46 PM on December 11, 2020 [7 favorites]
inflatablekiwi: My team uses it a lot to gather target data for social engineering exercises (phishing etc.)
Do I remember correctly that Michael Lewis used LinkedIn while he was researching Flash Boys, since hedge funds were super-secretive about what exactly they did but their employees put all the details of their experience on their LinkedIn pages?
posted by clawsoon at 2:52 PM on December 11, 2020 [10 favorites]
Do I remember correctly that Michael Lewis used LinkedIn while he was researching Flash Boys, since hedge funds were super-secretive about what exactly they did but their employees put all the details of their experience on their LinkedIn pages?
posted by clawsoon at 2:52 PM on December 11, 2020 [10 favorites]
LinkedIn is bizarre because it tries to make this hostage situation fun. [...] performative professionalism, job hunting, and networking are extensions of work not play. As long as LinkedIn pretends otherwise, we can also pretend that we’ll never be desperate enough to use it in earnest.The summary of how the fashion in LinkedIn glurge has changed was interesting, maybe someone will track that longer. A trailing economic indicator, like tie-widths used to be.
posted by clew at 3:00 PM on December 11, 2020 [8 favorites]
let's make a linkedin shitposting scene
LinkedIn: 4chan for the self-respecting.
posted by fatbird at 3:06 PM on December 11, 2020 [6 favorites]
LinkedIn: 4chan for the self-respecting.
posted by fatbird at 3:06 PM on December 11, 2020 [6 favorites]
On a job site, they’re the provisioners of positions and never miss the chance to regale their audience with their professional deeds: hiring a teenager with no experience, giving a stressed single mother a chance to provide for her family, or seeing past a candidate’s imperfections to give them a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. These stories are relayed dramatically in what’s now recognizable as LinkedIn-style storytelling, one spaced sentence at a time, told by job-givers with a savior complex....So the world of insincere self-aggrandizement has switched from toxic bootstraps machismo to compassionate helping, because that's what they think will impress people more now? I'm... actually... kinda heartened by that. There are plenty of things wrong with it (as the hilarious Twitter parodies they quote bring out), but as a reflection of a wider cultural shift I like it.
Browsing LinkedIn several years ago revealed the same line-by-line storytelling, but anecdotes that were thematically different. Then, the pendulum of storytelling swung toward hustle culture. Timelines were filled with team-building entrepreneurs doing their best Gary Vaynerchuk impression, imploring their followers to work more, try harder, and eat shit to get ahead.
posted by clawsoon at 3:09 PM on December 11, 2020 [14 favorites]
I have been working on deleting my accounts lately. But first I delete all the information off them. I no longer use Amazon, and I'm working on deleting everything from Facebook so I can delete that. Also working on disentangling from Google, which will be the hardest.
LinkedIn was the easiest. The hardest part was looking at all the neat people I was "friends" with or whatever they're called on LinkedIn before I deleted them. Because probably I'll never hear from any of them for sure now, instead of just probably.
posted by aniola at 3:15 PM on December 11, 2020 [5 favorites]
LinkedIn was the easiest. The hardest part was looking at all the neat people I was "friends" with or whatever they're called on LinkedIn before I deleted them. Because probably I'll never hear from any of them for sure now, instead of just probably.
posted by aniola at 3:15 PM on December 11, 2020 [5 favorites]
(And that LinkedIn bought Lynda.com and rebranded it "LinkedIn Learning")
... and that LinkedIn pro accounts let you see all the training people have done through LinkedIn Learning, including your test scores.
posted by mhoye at 3:19 PM on December 11, 2020 [10 favorites]
... and that LinkedIn pro accounts let you see all the training people have done through LinkedIn Learning, including your test scores.
posted by mhoye at 3:19 PM on December 11, 2020 [10 favorites]
Clawsoon - looks like the answer is yes.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 3:20 PM on December 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by inflatablekiwi at 3:20 PM on December 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
> As the linked post ably demonstrates, weird LinkedIn already exists.
you know what i try not to get into too many discussions of like semantics or whatever but i think there’s a distinction to be made between weird stuff on linkedin (see: the surreal story memes posted by recruiters) and weird linkedin, which would be less whatever-that-recruiter-meme-is and more hilarious.
like which one of us is going to step up. which one of us will be the dril/wint of linkedin. if we all go at once they can’t fire all of us.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 3:39 PM on December 11, 2020 [5 favorites]
you know what i try not to get into too many discussions of like semantics or whatever but i think there’s a distinction to be made between weird stuff on linkedin (see: the surreal story memes posted by recruiters) and weird linkedin, which would be less whatever-that-recruiter-meme-is and more hilarious.
like which one of us is going to step up. which one of us will be the dril/wint of linkedin. if we all go at once they can’t fire all of us.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 3:39 PM on December 11, 2020 [5 favorites]
writing prompt: the story about the guy who says “sir” getting a job even though his family is in the room, except it turns out that the guy is actually slenderman.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 3:40 PM on December 11, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 3:40 PM on December 11, 2020 [4 favorites]
some good points but the person who wrote that works for something called "Doist", which is maybe supposed to be do-ist but i prefer to think that it rhymes with joist
posted by Kwine at 3:50 PM on December 11, 2020 [29 favorites]
posted by Kwine at 3:50 PM on December 11, 2020 [29 favorites]
Huh, years ago I created a linkedIn profile. I thought the whole thing was beyond stupid. So I gave myself the job title: Toilet Scrubber 3rd class. Assumed that would keep people away and I could now safely ignore it. Well, you know what they say about assumptions. Still, I ignored it anyway, and still do. I like the shitposting idea.
posted by evilDoug at 3:56 PM on December 11, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by evilDoug at 3:56 PM on December 11, 2020 [5 favorites]
I've had an account since 2004, and I've accepted absolutely every "friend" request that has come in over the last 16 years. At this point, I'm likely no less than 2 degrees of separation of every single software engineer on Earth, at least those with LinkedIn accounts.
I probably get 4-5 recruiter "cold call" emails a month from there. I can tell because my current job (recruiters just love to mention your current job for some reason) hasn't been on a resume I've sent someone in 3 jobs now. Anyone that isn't finding me talking about my job on somewhere like here or Twitter is getting it from LinkedIn. So, I have all the "benefits" of it (a giant social graph focused on getting a new role someday), without ever really logged into the site itself.
I say "benefits" because I'm not looking, and God willing, will never been looking for a new job ever again.
posted by sideshow at 4:03 PM on December 11, 2020 [4 favorites]
I probably get 4-5 recruiter "cold call" emails a month from there. I can tell because my current job (recruiters just love to mention your current job for some reason) hasn't been on a resume I've sent someone in 3 jobs now. Anyone that isn't finding me talking about my job on somewhere like here or Twitter is getting it from LinkedIn. So, I have all the "benefits" of it (a giant social graph focused on getting a new role someday), without ever really logged into the site itself.
I say "benefits" because I'm not looking, and God willing, will never been looking for a new job ever again.
posted by sideshow at 4:03 PM on December 11, 2020 [4 favorites]
I keep getting emails via LinkedIn from people I’m connected to congratulating me on my work anniversary. I haven’t had any employment since 2012. I think I really need to delete myself from that junk mail spewer.
posted by njohnson23 at 4:09 PM on December 11, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by njohnson23 at 4:09 PM on December 11, 2020 [8 favorites]
My favorite is getting a notification to congratulate someone on their work anniversary when they actually died five years ago and probably aren't reading LinkedIn.
posted by octothorpe at 4:14 PM on December 11, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 4:14 PM on December 11, 2020 [6 favorites]
My first job after moving to NYC was for a Fintech startup that used LinkedIn as a login mechanism. I had a LinkedIn profile. After I was unceremoniously fired, to avoid having them stalk me, I deleted my LinkedIn profile and started looking for work.
On one interview, as a Social Media Manager for [REDACTED WEBSITE NOW OWNED BY NEW YORK TIMES] that I thought was going well, I was asked—point blank—why I didn't have a LinkedIn profile. I didn't get the job, but I set up a new profile, and almost immediately, my job search prospects improved. People do look you up on LinkedIn if you're looking for work it seems, whether in Social Media or elsewhere.
One thing that makes LinkedIn slightly more tolerable is to dive in and basically disable it sending me email for anything except direct messages from the people I have as connections. That's about it. I rarely touch it except when I'm looking for jobs, which hopefully means I won't need to touch it for a good long while now.
It always surprises me to hear people say "I get so many notifications/emails/etc from this service. Have you tried going into settings and disabling the emails?
posted by SansPoint at 4:15 PM on December 11, 2020 [14 favorites]
On one interview, as a Social Media Manager for [REDACTED WEBSITE NOW OWNED BY NEW YORK TIMES] that I thought was going well, I was asked—point blank—why I didn't have a LinkedIn profile. I didn't get the job, but I set up a new profile, and almost immediately, my job search prospects improved. People do look you up on LinkedIn if you're looking for work it seems, whether in Social Media or elsewhere.
One thing that makes LinkedIn slightly more tolerable is to dive in and basically disable it sending me email for anything except direct messages from the people I have as connections. That's about it. I rarely touch it except when I'm looking for jobs, which hopefully means I won't need to touch it for a good long while now.
It always surprises me to hear people say "I get so many notifications/emails/etc from this service. Have you tried going into settings and disabling the emails?
posted by SansPoint at 4:15 PM on December 11, 2020 [14 favorites]
Linked In is the offspring of a pyramid scheme which had a one night stand with a protection racket and didn't use any protection.
Or if you prefer more arthropodal metaphors, Linked In is like that spider whose venom poisons you and also gives you MRSA.
posted by jamjam at 4:16 PM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
Or if you prefer more arthropodal metaphors, Linked In is like that spider whose venom poisons you and also gives you MRSA.
posted by jamjam at 4:16 PM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
I keep thinking I should delete my account. But, then every six months I need it. (Usually because I have to look up the email address of a French academic in order to ask them to give an invited talk and their batshit university website doesn't actually include their email address...)
It seems I haven't received recruiter spam in nearly two years. Perhaps telling everyone who writes to me to go fuck themselves is finally working. Or, doing so has flagged me as a bad team player.
I like the idea of weirding linked in. I'm not sure I'm professionally secure enough to do it with the level of absurdity it requires to be interesting just yet. Soon.
posted by eotvos at 4:21 PM on December 11, 2020
It seems I haven't received recruiter spam in nearly two years. Perhaps telling everyone who writes to me to go fuck themselves is finally working. Or, doing so has flagged me as a bad team player.
I like the idea of weirding linked in. I'm not sure I'm professionally secure enough to do it with the level of absurdity it requires to be interesting just yet. Soon.
posted by eotvos at 4:21 PM on December 11, 2020
The occasional counterexample here and elsewhere notwithstanding, LinkedIn has generally seemed to me to be as useful for getting a job as Quora is for getting a useful answer.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:27 PM on December 11, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:27 PM on December 11, 2020 [4 favorites]
Job searching already feels like online dating and LinkedIn reinforces that in a way that feels a little creepy to me. For example people can see who has viewed their profile, unless the viewer paid money to hide their views. Reminds me of a feature OKCupid used to have. I don’t want to delete my LinkedIn since I’m looking for a job and it feels like self-sabotage to not have one.
posted by mundo at 4:45 PM on December 11, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by mundo at 4:45 PM on December 11, 2020 [3 favorites]
I've gotten some LinkedIn requests the last few days, from that guy, who tried to rewrite my software, so the company could get rid of me, except it was Visual Basic trash, and after the first test deployment, the error reporting system overwhelmed the database...
And then he left the company... LOL
Been trying very hard not to "add him to my network"
posted by Windopaene at 4:48 PM on December 11, 2020 [6 favorites]
And then he left the company... LOL
Been trying very hard not to "add him to my network"
posted by Windopaene at 4:48 PM on December 11, 2020 [6 favorites]
And then there's the site's notifications reminding you to wish someone you interacted with once (and who is more probably than not a recruiter) congratulations on the anniversary of their current job. I mean, do actual human beings do that?
posted by acb at 4:55 PM on December 11, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by acb at 4:55 PM on December 11, 2020 [6 favorites]
shitpost on linkedin.
Linkedin is like Twitter, except you're supposed to write like HR is looking over your shoulder.
Which I'm actually okay with. You post the shit you think will help your career. And maybe it does. Maybe it doesn't. But since what you're putting in is so carefully censored, you don't have to worry about it leaking anywhere. Less worry for you (also less worry for Linkedin.)
Mind you, I'd care a lot more about my experience using the site if I were actually using the site, and right now I am happy in my job, so I don;'t.
posted by ocschwar at 5:07 PM on December 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
Linkedin is like Twitter, except you're supposed to write like HR is looking over your shoulder.
Which I'm actually okay with. You post the shit you think will help your career. And maybe it does. Maybe it doesn't. But since what you're putting in is so carefully censored, you don't have to worry about it leaking anywhere. Less worry for you (also less worry for Linkedin.)
Mind you, I'd care a lot more about my experience using the site if I were actually using the site, and right now I am happy in my job, so I don;'t.
posted by ocschwar at 5:07 PM on December 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
I'm in an industry where a lot of people move from job to job within a small-ish circle, so LinkedIn has been useful to me for contacting (and getting contacted by) people who I've worked with but probably never had lunch with and know would be a decent fit for a job we're hiring for.
It's sort of "I don't have your personal email address and don't want it, I'm not looking for friends, this conversation is guaranteed to be limited to job talk and pleasantries."
posted by clawsoon at 5:16 PM on December 11, 2020 [8 favorites]
It's sort of "I don't have your personal email address and don't want it, I'm not looking for friends, this conversation is guaranteed to be limited to job talk and pleasantries."
posted by clawsoon at 5:16 PM on December 11, 2020 [8 favorites]
> My favorite is getting a notification to congratulate someone on their work anniversary when they actually died five years ago and probably aren't reading LinkedIn.
They could be in hell, yeah.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:22 PM on December 11, 2020 [16 favorites]
They could be in hell, yeah.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:22 PM on December 11, 2020 [16 favorites]
My LinkedIn experience is guilt-wracked because my inbox and connection requests are a deep well of recruiters intermingled with grad students looking for work. The recruiters keep me away from going through the full list and responding to the students..
posted by simra at 5:30 PM on December 11, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by simra at 5:30 PM on December 11, 2020 [3 favorites]
A former job forced me to start a LI account. My current job would have pretty much forced me to open an account up if I hadn't already had one. Part of my current duties include updating the company LI page.
The thing I'm finding most annoying about LI these days is the number of ads that get delivered into my stream (or whatever it's called). There are just so many. And a lot of them are autoplaying video. I've had enough of that crap. I know it's not going away, but the place would be so much better if it did.
The other part I really don't like about it is there is no way (as far as I know) to delink from people like former bosses and co-workers. There are a few I'd love to see fall of the face of the earth, and I certainly don't need to see their updates. Mind you there is one former boss who has now gone on a begging spree pleading for people to give him a new job. I know you're supposed to promote yourself on the service, but that really seemed over the top--at least it did to me. I'm sure he'll end up getting a fabulous offer somewhere, as that's the way the world works, but I'll admit, it did kind of give me a little sense of glee that he was being turfed out (because it didn't sound like this was a move he was making voluntarily).
posted by sardonyx at 5:52 PM on December 11, 2020 [4 favorites]
The thing I'm finding most annoying about LI these days is the number of ads that get delivered into my stream (or whatever it's called). There are just so many. And a lot of them are autoplaying video. I've had enough of that crap. I know it's not going away, but the place would be so much better if it did.
The other part I really don't like about it is there is no way (as far as I know) to delink from people like former bosses and co-workers. There are a few I'd love to see fall of the face of the earth, and I certainly don't need to see their updates. Mind you there is one former boss who has now gone on a begging spree pleading for people to give him a new job. I know you're supposed to promote yourself on the service, but that really seemed over the top--at least it did to me. I'm sure he'll end up getting a fabulous offer somewhere, as that's the way the world works, but I'll admit, it did kind of give me a little sense of glee that he was being turfed out (because it didn't sound like this was a move he was making voluntarily).
posted by sardonyx at 5:52 PM on December 11, 2020 [4 favorites]
On my jobiversary I usually keep it small and intimate, just my closest circle of Linkedin spam recruiters, maybe some cream puffs and grilled trout... Wait, what?
posted by Meatbomb at 5:52 PM on December 11, 2020 [13 favorites]
posted by Meatbomb at 5:52 PM on December 11, 2020 [13 favorites]
When I deleted everyone off LinkedIn right before deleting my account, LinkedIn must have desperately started showing my profile to everyone, because an acquaintence on LinkedIn promptly emailed me out of the blue.
posted by aniola at 6:02 PM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by aniola at 6:02 PM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'm connected with one famous tech person on Linkedin who uses it completely sincerely. If your entire career has revolved around standards bodies and professional associations and such, it probably seems like a wacky freeform space in comparison.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:14 PM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:14 PM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
> LinkedIn has generally seemed to me to be as useful for getting a job as Quora is for getting a useful answer.
Maybe it depends on your industry or locale? In my experience recruiters won't return your calls or emails unless your LinkedIn profile has you endorsed for skills relevant to the job you're applying for. Hereabouts, playing the job market without an LI account is only feasible if you've already got a strong offline professional social network.
posted by at by at 6:21 PM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
Maybe it depends on your industry or locale? In my experience recruiters won't return your calls or emails unless your LinkedIn profile has you endorsed for skills relevant to the job you're applying for. Hereabouts, playing the job market without an LI account is only feasible if you've already got a strong offline professional social network.
posted by at by at 6:21 PM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
I now have to use LinkedIn for work and it’s a different tone and beast from Facebook or Instagram. People seem to use it quite sincerely as work which I find unnerving. For B2B it’s pretty much the only game in town. I still prefer it to the plastic prettiness of Instagram and the hell of Facebook. LinkedIn is up front about being corporate personas.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:56 PM on December 11, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:56 PM on December 11, 2020 [5 favorites]
Every once in while I try to delete my LinkedIn account, but it won’t let me because I have a balance of a few cents from a free LinkedIn ads credit.
posted by jimw at 7:05 PM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by jimw at 7:05 PM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
LinkedIn was worse than useless to me when I was a developer. At one point, I set my job description to "recruiter bait" with a description that I'd ask any recruiter that called me to read out loud. They're such a nuisance.
I've hated LI from the beginning. If I recall correctly, early LinkedIn asked people for their email address and their password, and would spam everyone you ever contacted, sending connection requests. I couldn't believe how many people were just letting a third party log in to their email address. (this is how I got a LinkedIn request from Martin Atkins, of Pigface and Public Image Limited game)
A few years ago, my career shifted to something more sales adjacent, and suddenly LinkedIn made sense, in a way. It was still awful, and I definitely blocked Gary Vee just to stop his posts from showing up in my feed as people liked and shared them, but it's got this weird effect with business types. They read LinkedIn. These are really difficult people to get in touch with, but if you post about things in their field, there's a surprisingly good chance they'll notice you.
The last company I worked for punched above its weight, and one way we got traction without spending marketing cash was through me making shitposts about Adobe and Salesforce. I knew I had no designs on working at either of those places, so somehow, my old flame warrior tendencies came out, and I'd put those companies on blast. Once guy I worked with clutched his pearls about it at first, but then I'd go to a trade show, and strangers would tell me how much they loved my posts, but that they also couldn't interact with them, because they're A Magento partner and it would look bad. I recently took a new job in the same industry now, and it's no longer a relevant, uh, content strategy. I kind of treat at as a dumb ARG.
It's such a weird network. It's best when you don't take it too seriously.
posted by Leviathant at 7:38 PM on December 11, 2020 [8 favorites]
I've hated LI from the beginning. If I recall correctly, early LinkedIn asked people for their email address and their password, and would spam everyone you ever contacted, sending connection requests. I couldn't believe how many people were just letting a third party log in to their email address. (this is how I got a LinkedIn request from Martin Atkins, of Pigface and Public Image Limited game)
A few years ago, my career shifted to something more sales adjacent, and suddenly LinkedIn made sense, in a way. It was still awful, and I definitely blocked Gary Vee just to stop his posts from showing up in my feed as people liked and shared them, but it's got this weird effect with business types. They read LinkedIn. These are really difficult people to get in touch with, but if you post about things in their field, there's a surprisingly good chance they'll notice you.
The last company I worked for punched above its weight, and one way we got traction without spending marketing cash was through me making shitposts about Adobe and Salesforce. I knew I had no designs on working at either of those places, so somehow, my old flame warrior tendencies came out, and I'd put those companies on blast. Once guy I worked with clutched his pearls about it at first, but then I'd go to a trade show, and strangers would tell me how much they loved my posts, but that they also couldn't interact with them, because they're A Magento partner and it would look bad. I recently took a new job in the same industry now, and it's no longer a relevant, uh, content strategy. I kind of treat at as a dumb ARG.
It's such a weird network. It's best when you don't take it too seriously.
posted by Leviathant at 7:38 PM on December 11, 2020 [8 favorites]
It's best when you don't take it too seriously.
That's true of Life in general.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:59 PM on December 11, 2020 [3 favorites]
That's true of Life in general.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:59 PM on December 11, 2020 [3 favorites]
for some reason, even though I keep changing it, LinkedIn still lists a job I had 8 years ago as my current job. I get 'congratulate coworker for being connected X years' all the time. Recently someone contacted me about a job and was 100% convinced I was lying about my work history because a company listed there was under a new name ( it said as much on LinkedIn )
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 8:33 PM on December 11, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 8:33 PM on December 11, 2020 [3 favorites]
yeah, linkedin is kind of weird but I am not worked up about the harm. In fact, it helps funnel my useless recruiter spam into one inbox that isn't my personal inbox.
P.S. Exactly one linkedin mail was not spam and I got a good job when I wasn't even looking for one because the recruiter read my resume for once and offered me something that was a great fit.
posted by temancl at 8:36 PM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
P.S. Exactly one linkedin mail was not spam and I got a good job when I wasn't even looking for one because the recruiter read my resume for once and offered me something that was a great fit.
posted by temancl at 8:36 PM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
A few weeks ago I checked my LinkedIn account for the first time in a couple of years just for the heck of it, and geez! For a supposedly professional-oriented networking site, its layout and usability have devolved to clusterfuck levels.
posted by gtrwolf at 9:38 PM on December 11, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by gtrwolf at 9:38 PM on December 11, 2020 [3 favorites]
I think it's worth noting that LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman played a huge role in efforts to raise money to oust Trump, and spent up to $100 million of his own money as well.
posted by jamjam at 10:20 PM on December 11, 2020 [12 favorites]
posted by jamjam at 10:20 PM on December 11, 2020 [12 favorites]
I think it's worth noting that LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman played a huge role in efforts to raise money to oust Trump, and spent up to $100 million of his own money as well.
You mean, if I help clean up our local pond, then I'm entitled to shit in it?
posted by Cardinal Fang at 11:59 PM on December 11, 2020 [5 favorites]
You mean, if I help clean up our local pond, then I'm entitled to shit in it?
posted by Cardinal Fang at 11:59 PM on December 11, 2020 [5 favorites]
Mrs. CF gets phishing emails from fake accounts telling her that they would never normally use LinkedIn to ask for a date but they can't get over how beautiful she is. It's become a sort of sport for us tracking them down and working out where they pasted their profile information from.
posted by Cardinal Fang at 12:02 AM on December 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Cardinal Fang at 12:02 AM on December 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
the person who wrote that works for something called "Doist", which is maybe supposed to be do-ist but i prefer to think that it rhymes with joist
For years I thought that Titleist had something to do with breasts.
posted by Cardinal Fang at 12:08 AM on December 12, 2020 [6 favorites]
For years I thought that Titleist had something to do with breasts.
posted by Cardinal Fang at 12:08 AM on December 12, 2020 [6 favorites]
The biggest news to me in this thread is that you can apparently now delete your LinkedIn account, I remember that's why I never made one, because they basically were saying "Fuck you, we'll hold onto your data forever."
When did the ability to delete your account appear? After the Microsoft purchase?
posted by deadaluspark at 1:01 AM on December 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
When did the ability to delete your account appear? After the Microsoft purchase?
posted by deadaluspark at 1:01 AM on December 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
Eh, I really like LinkedIn. Twitter isn’t big in my current industry, LI is where I have interesting conversations with people who I might normally meet at events in a normal year, and it’s super helpful to skim over people’s profiles before a meeting (and often see they’ve done the same). I don’t take it too seriously, but it’s fine for what it claims to be.
posted by third word on a random page at 2:08 AM on December 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by third word on a random page at 2:08 AM on December 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
> When did the ability to delete your account appear?
The GDPR requires it, so LinkedIn may have made it available globally in lieu of trying to figure out a way to limit it to people living in Europe.
posted by at by at 2:22 AM on December 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
The GDPR requires it, so LinkedIn may have made it available globally in lieu of trying to figure out a way to limit it to people living in Europe.
posted by at by at 2:22 AM on December 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
For years I thought that Titleist had something to do with breasts.
(Just want to mention that according to Google Translate, "leist" means "perform" in German. How disappointed in that website germans must be.)
posted by Grangousier at 2:56 AM on December 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
(Just want to mention that according to Google Translate, "leist" means "perform" in German. How disappointed in that website germans must be.)
posted by Grangousier at 2:56 AM on December 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
Please refrain from using supposed “weirdness“ of German to entertain yourself. Thank you.
posted by 15L06 at 3:20 AM on December 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by 15L06 at 3:20 AM on December 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
I will give LinkedIn credit for somehow, unlike its peers, not becoming a major recruiting platform for neo-Nazis and incels. The article mentions people leaving hateful comments. I don't doubt it. But a Google search for "white supremacy + LinkedIn" comes up with, at worst, articles suggesting LI could do better listening to Black voices, rather than attesting to the presence of giant nests of hate like on Reddit, or like on Twitter where you ...
Although I was just typing that when I found this screed on LI about Jews controlling the media. Update: LI seemed to take it down instantly when I reported it. Interesting
posted by johngoren at 4:31 AM on December 12, 2020 [5 favorites]
Although I was just typing that when I found this screed on LI about Jews controlling the media. Update: LI seemed to take it down instantly when I reported it. Interesting
posted by johngoren at 4:31 AM on December 12, 2020 [5 favorites]
Nobody said anything about the weirdness of German or any other language, just the inevitable weirdness of the interplay between different languages.
posted by acb at 5:18 AM on December 12, 2020 [12 favorites]
posted by acb at 5:18 AM on December 12, 2020 [12 favorites]
let's do this. let's make a linkedin shitposting scene. any social network can become weird. let's make weird linkedin happen.My former supervisor once had his profile suspended for trolling after I endorsed him for “enterprise cheese making” and some other coworkers seconded it. The amusing part is that although we all work in IT he lives on a small family farm and was actually making cheese from his cow’s milk.
posted by adamsc at 5:29 AM on December 12, 2020 [10 favorites]
You'd need to keep the Weird LinkedIn accounts separate from any account you may actually need to use for job-hunting or other forms of performative conformism. It'd possibly be an entirely disconnected shadow social graph, a dark mass of off-kilter weirdness possibly resembling the Seinfeld Present Day Twitter account in tone.
I suggest using names from a list of not-quite-convincing fake names used by email spammers.
posted by acb at 6:19 AM on December 12, 2020
I suggest using names from a list of not-quite-convincing fake names used by email spammers.
posted by acb at 6:19 AM on December 12, 2020
My use of LinkedIn as someone in my early 30s is purely to stalk the people I come into contact with who have jobs I aspire to. I check whether or not they are older than me and how much so, and then either feel relieved or panicked, depending on the answer.
posted by geegollygosh at 6:29 AM on December 12, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by geegollygosh at 6:29 AM on December 12, 2020 [7 favorites]
Over Thanksgiving weekend I got a connection request on LI that started, "I am using the Thanksgiving break to expand my professional network..." and all I could think is WTF?
posted by COD at 7:00 AM on December 12, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by COD at 7:00 AM on December 12, 2020 [5 favorites]
LinkedIn is handy as a glorified contact list for those people who you've worked with in the past but aren't really close friends with. I've always gotten jobs through people from previous jobs so it's good to keep contact with them.
posted by octothorpe at 7:17 AM on December 12, 2020 [10 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 7:17 AM on December 12, 2020 [10 favorites]
>> It's best when you don't take it too seriously.
> That's true of Life in general.
oh god. no one told me. why did no one tell me? if it’s best when you don’t take it seriously, then... why did i spend so much time working on this glider gun generating puffer train? ugh, what a waste...
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 7:41 AM on December 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
> That's true of Life in general.
oh god. no one told me. why did no one tell me? if it’s best when you don’t take it seriously, then... why did i spend so much time working on this glider gun generating puffer train? ugh, what a waste...
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 7:41 AM on December 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
That said, my career ambitions can be summed up as, "don't get fired or laid off until I can retire."
I currently (*knock on wood*) have the best job I've ever had or am likely to ever have, and I would still retire as soon as I finished typing this comment if I could. Failing that, I will consider it a professional success of the highest order if I never have to interview for a job or update my resume ever again.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:00 AM on December 12, 2020 [3 favorites]
I currently (*knock on wood*) have the best job I've ever had or am likely to ever have, and I would still retire as soon as I finished typing this comment if I could. Failing that, I will consider it a professional success of the highest order if I never have to interview for a job or update my resume ever again.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:00 AM on December 12, 2020 [3 favorites]
reclusive novelist thomas pynchon, mhoye wants to endorse you for your glider gun puffer chain cellular automata skill, accept (y/n)
posted by mhoye at 8:05 AM on December 12, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by mhoye at 8:05 AM on December 12, 2020 [5 favorites]
That said, my career ambitions can be summed up as, "don't get fired or laid off until I can retire."
I'm at least 9 years away from retirement but I can't imagine that I'll still be with the same company by then. I've never managed to stay anywhere more than seven years and I'm on my seventh job in the last 20 years.
posted by octothorpe at 9:00 AM on December 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
I'm at least 9 years away from retirement but I can't imagine that I'll still be with the same company by then. I've never managed to stay anywhere more than seven years and I'm on my seventh job in the last 20 years.
posted by octothorpe at 9:00 AM on December 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
It always surprises me to hear people say "I get so many notifications/emails/etc from this service. Have you tried going into settings and disabling the emails?
I get spam email from LinkedIn and have never had an account of any kind--they scraped my info from professional associates years ago, and I still get emails excitedly telling me that some number of people have been searching for me on LinkedIn, and so I should really be on LinkedIn. I will not be on LinkedIn. Grar.*
* (To riff on Paine: my mind is my own church, and social media profanes it. I've worked hard [and had enough luck] to be in a place where I'm not compelled to play these games, because living in a world saturated with transactional relationships is gross enough, but the past 20 years have added demands for incessant performative behavior and digital self-curation into the mix, and apparently that was my 'can't even with this' point. I mean, when Shakespeare wrote that all the world is a stage, he was being metaphorical, you know? All this literal creation and curation of a digital self, and performative social bullshit within transactional relationships and settings to somehow convince ourselves that all these capitalistic interactions have some small smidgin of humanity and feeling to them, just so we can feel a little comfort and connection in a ruthlessly commodified and class-segregated society, is a balm that doesn't work and I think we all sense that it's a bunch of desperate fakery, but most of us are stuck having to sing for our suppers every day, so can't do much about it, and often don't have the time/energy/simple mental space to stop and look around and notice just how shitty it all really has gotten for so many of us, day-to-day inside of our minds and selves along with all the material need, how invaded and diminished our internal lives have become. Unrestrained, poorly regulated capitalism maybe won't literally kill us all, but it's certainly done a really effective job of beating down our spirits.)
posted by LooseFilter at 9:08 AM on December 12, 2020 [9 favorites]
I get spam email from LinkedIn and have never had an account of any kind--they scraped my info from professional associates years ago, and I still get emails excitedly telling me that some number of people have been searching for me on LinkedIn, and so I should really be on LinkedIn. I will not be on LinkedIn. Grar.*
* (To riff on Paine: my mind is my own church, and social media profanes it. I've worked hard [and had enough luck] to be in a place where I'm not compelled to play these games, because living in a world saturated with transactional relationships is gross enough, but the past 20 years have added demands for incessant performative behavior and digital self-curation into the mix, and apparently that was my 'can't even with this' point. I mean, when Shakespeare wrote that all the world is a stage, he was being metaphorical, you know? All this literal creation and curation of a digital self, and performative social bullshit within transactional relationships and settings to somehow convince ourselves that all these capitalistic interactions have some small smidgin of humanity and feeling to them, just so we can feel a little comfort and connection in a ruthlessly commodified and class-segregated society, is a balm that doesn't work and I think we all sense that it's a bunch of desperate fakery, but most of us are stuck having to sing for our suppers every day, so can't do much about it, and often don't have the time/energy/simple mental space to stop and look around and notice just how shitty it all really has gotten for so many of us, day-to-day inside of our minds and selves along with all the material need, how invaded and diminished our internal lives have become. Unrestrained, poorly regulated capitalism maybe won't literally kill us all, but it's certainly done a really effective job of beating down our spirits.)
posted by LooseFilter at 9:08 AM on December 12, 2020 [9 favorites]
Nothing about the alternate reality world of sex worker LinkedIn? On Linkedin, if you get out of your typical network, which trends towards a cycle, there are some very different places.
posted by meehawl at 10:13 AM on December 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by meehawl at 10:13 AM on December 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
let's do this. let's make a linkedin shitposting scene. any social network can become weird. let's make weird linkedin happen.
Already been done: Thomas Oscar is an Australian teenager who tried to make the most boring Facebook group possible - a group where members pretend to be corporate drones in a non-existent office.
posted by pwnguin at 10:39 AM on December 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
Already been done: Thomas Oscar is an Australian teenager who tried to make the most boring Facebook group possible - a group where members pretend to be corporate drones in a non-existent office.
posted by pwnguin at 10:39 AM on December 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
I got a job through LinkedIn this summer, which entailed having to look at it, which I can’t say I recommend. And there are a lot of fakes and flakes among the recruiters, too. But hey I guess it did work eventually.
People who use it as a regular social networkIng site seem like the creepiest people in the world.
posted by atoxyl at 10:55 AM on December 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
People who use it as a regular social networkIng site seem like the creepiest people in the world.
posted by atoxyl at 10:55 AM on December 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
Already been done:
I think that's the opposite; rather than role-playing drudgery and mundanity on a general-purpose forum, this would be a seam of uncharacteristic weirdness in a forum whose purpose is performative normality.
posted by acb at 11:41 AM on December 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
I think that's the opposite; rather than role-playing drudgery and mundanity on a general-purpose forum, this would be a seam of uncharacteristic weirdness in a forum whose purpose is performative normality.
posted by acb at 11:41 AM on December 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
if it’s best when you don’t take it seriously, then... why did i spend so much time working on this glider gun generating puffer train? ugh, what a waste...
Not if you didn't take the end-result of your endeavor too seriously.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:51 AM on December 12, 2020
Not if you didn't take the end-result of your endeavor too seriously.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:51 AM on December 12, 2020
* (To riff on Paine: my mind is my own church, and social media profanes it. I've worked hard [and had enough luck] to be in a place where I'm not compelled to play these games, because living in a world saturated with transactional relationships is gross enough, but the past 20 years have added demands for incessant performative behavior and digital self-curation into the mix, and apparently that was my 'can't even with this' point.
I don't get the hate for LinkedIn. Yes it's corny, there's people who create noise posting asinine stuff, the interface sucks. But isn't the bad interface and purely transactional nature of it far more honest and healthy than Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram? The thing about LinkedIn is that I find it keeps the profane neatly outside the realm of the sacred, unlike other platforms which demand that you engage with them at all times, that you are constantly connected, LinkedIn works pretty well when you treat it as strictly a work thing which happens during the work day.
I have a reminder every two months to spend 5 minutes making sure it's updated and check whatever its decided to notify me of, the only emails I get are about messages sent directly to me.
I only post things, (when I used it for that in the past) that are directly relevant to the work I do and only specifically for the purpose of showing people in that industry that I know what I'm talking about. I list my career stuff on there to make it easier for people who want to find me professionally. I only connect with people I've worked with (I briefly considered not accepting my wife's invitation to connect but decided that was taking it all a little far).
The thing is: it is neither a time sink (go ahead and create a weird twitter equivalent if you want but isn't that endless stream of compelling content *exactly* what makes Twitter so addictive?) nor remotely deceptive about what it does.
We're always saying, aren't we, how important it is to be able to keep work at work? To keep our private lives uncolonised by the things we do for work? And yet, I get the feeling that people who are FB friends with work colleagues and tweet about their work, political views, and entertainment preferences from the same account somehow think that is the normal thing.
I mean, imagine explaining the utility of various social media platforms to someone from the past:
-LinkedIn: It helps employers find you, sometimes they make you an offer and pay you more money than you're making right now
-Twitter: You can argue with people you don't know while lying in bed next to your alienated spouse
-Facebook: You can argue with your spouse's uncle about the World Economic Forum, which neither of you were really aware of until last week
-Instagram: You get to look at advertising
I don't know about you but only one of those makes sense to me!
posted by atrazine at 1:41 PM on December 12, 2020 [5 favorites]
I don't get the hate for LinkedIn. Yes it's corny, there's people who create noise posting asinine stuff, the interface sucks. But isn't the bad interface and purely transactional nature of it far more honest and healthy than Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram? The thing about LinkedIn is that I find it keeps the profane neatly outside the realm of the sacred, unlike other platforms which demand that you engage with them at all times, that you are constantly connected, LinkedIn works pretty well when you treat it as strictly a work thing which happens during the work day.
I have a reminder every two months to spend 5 minutes making sure it's updated and check whatever its decided to notify me of, the only emails I get are about messages sent directly to me.
I only post things, (when I used it for that in the past) that are directly relevant to the work I do and only specifically for the purpose of showing people in that industry that I know what I'm talking about. I list my career stuff on there to make it easier for people who want to find me professionally. I only connect with people I've worked with (I briefly considered not accepting my wife's invitation to connect but decided that was taking it all a little far).
The thing is: it is neither a time sink (go ahead and create a weird twitter equivalent if you want but isn't that endless stream of compelling content *exactly* what makes Twitter so addictive?) nor remotely deceptive about what it does.
We're always saying, aren't we, how important it is to be able to keep work at work? To keep our private lives uncolonised by the things we do for work? And yet, I get the feeling that people who are FB friends with work colleagues and tweet about their work, political views, and entertainment preferences from the same account somehow think that is the normal thing.
I mean, imagine explaining the utility of various social media platforms to someone from the past:
-LinkedIn: It helps employers find you, sometimes they make you an offer and pay you more money than you're making right now
-Twitter: You can argue with people you don't know while lying in bed next to your alienated spouse
-Facebook: You can argue with your spouse's uncle about the World Economic Forum, which neither of you were really aware of until last week
-Instagram: You get to look at advertising
I don't know about you but only one of those makes sense to me!
posted by atrazine at 1:41 PM on December 12, 2020 [5 favorites]
I've dared be critical of capitalism once or twice, in rhetorical questions on comments to friends' posts (having to do with your typical inspirational-but-cutthroat LinkedIn topics...) and I feel a little bit subversive. Then, someone outside my network will give my comment a solitary like, and that just makes me feel good.
posted by ipsative at 1:50 PM on December 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by ipsative at 1:50 PM on December 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
This week, somebody I don't know found me on LinkedIn and proceeded to email me at my work account, which isn't mentioned anywhere in my LinkedIn account. And then they emailed a second time to follow up. I half expected it to be an anti-phishing test from our security folks, which they regularly surprise us with, but it wasn't.
I guess email addresses aren't hard to guess based on the employer—firstname.lastname@employer.com is a good bet most of the time—but still.
posted by emelenjr at 2:58 PM on December 12, 2020
I guess email addresses aren't hard to guess based on the employer—firstname.lastname@employer.com is a good bet most of the time—but still.
posted by emelenjr at 2:58 PM on December 12, 2020
Now, I realise I am already using LinkedIn like I use Metafilter and I am doing it with people who are not experienced of how they present themselves to the world, understanding the limits of past decisions, leading up to when one invests in a LinkedIn Premium membership.
I don't think LinkedIn is a lead machine but that is what LinkedIn hopes will eventually happen but it has weakened its ambition to just being an advertising base, a database for recruiters, and a marketing communication pool.
So much goes unchallenged!
posted by parmanparman at 4:14 PM on December 12, 2020
I don't think LinkedIn is a lead machine but that is what LinkedIn hopes will eventually happen but it has weakened its ambition to just being an advertising base, a database for recruiters, and a marketing communication pool.
So much goes unchallenged!
posted by parmanparman at 4:14 PM on December 12, 2020
Weirdly, while I had this open on my phone, I got a LinkedIn email for the first time in what feels like a long while.
posted by DebetEsse at 6:37 PM on December 12, 2020
posted by DebetEsse at 6:37 PM on December 12, 2020
people use Skype in 2020
Er, yes, they do.
Anyway, odd article.
On the one hand, yeah, it's weirdly designed and not a great hub of conversation.
On the other?
In higher ed, where I work, it's widely used as a resume station for students. Which makes a lot of sense, and is very useful for some of them. (I'd prefer they set up their own domain, too.)
Personally, it's not my main platform. I spend much more time on my blog, Twitter, FB, podcasts. But I do get some good conversations going on LinkedIn. Interlocutors are often folks I don't see many other places online. So it has some value.
posted by doctornemo at 6:57 PM on December 12, 2020
Er, yes, they do.
Anyway, odd article.
On the one hand, yeah, it's weirdly designed and not a great hub of conversation.
On the other?
In higher ed, where I work, it's widely used as a resume station for students. Which makes a lot of sense, and is very useful for some of them. (I'd prefer they set up their own domain, too.)
Personally, it's not my main platform. I spend much more time on my blog, Twitter, FB, podcasts. But I do get some good conversations going on LinkedIn. Interlocutors are often folks I don't see many other places online. So it has some value.
posted by doctornemo at 6:57 PM on December 12, 2020
-LinkedIn: It helps employers find you, sometimes they make you an offer and pay you more money than you're making right now
-Twitter: You can argue with people you don't know while lying in bed next to your alienated spouse
-Facebook: You can argue with your spouse's uncle about the World Economic Forum, which neither of you were really aware of until last week
-Instagram: You get to look at advertising
I don't know about you but only one of those makes sense to me!
Twitter, obviously. What makes more sense than arguing with people you don't know while lying in bed next to your alienated spouse?
posted by clawsoon at 7:02 PM on December 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
-Twitter: You can argue with people you don't know while lying in bed next to your alienated spouse
-Facebook: You can argue with your spouse's uncle about the World Economic Forum, which neither of you were really aware of until last week
-Instagram: You get to look at advertising
I don't know about you but only one of those makes sense to me!
Twitter, obviously. What makes more sense than arguing with people you don't know while lying in bed next to your alienated spouse?
posted by clawsoon at 7:02 PM on December 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
twitter: venue for shitposting
facebook: venue for shitposting
instagram: venue for shitposting
linkedin: venue for shitposting
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 7:48 PM on December 12, 2020 [3 favorites]
facebook: venue for shitposting
instagram: venue for shitposting
linkedin: venue for shitposting
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 7:48 PM on December 12, 2020 [3 favorites]
SCP is what I follow while lying in bed next to my alien spouse.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:50 PM on December 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:50 PM on December 12, 2020 [4 favorites]
What makes more sense than arguing with people you don't know while lying in bed next to your alienated spouse?
Some may prefer arguing with their alienated spouse while lying in bed next to people they don't know.
posted by Cardinal Fang at 2:56 PM on December 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
Some may prefer arguing with their alienated spouse while lying in bed next to people they don't know.
posted by Cardinal Fang at 2:56 PM on December 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
-LinkedIn: It helps employers find you, sometimes they make you an offer and pay you more money than you're making right now
Like sometimes a chain letter makes you more money than you paid for the letter.
posted by Cardinal Fang at 2:58 PM on December 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
Like sometimes a chain letter makes you more money than you paid for the letter.
posted by Cardinal Fang at 2:58 PM on December 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
LinkedIn is the only social network that helped me pay a bill, so not that bad.
posted by ersatz at 11:56 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by ersatz at 11:56 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
LinkedIn is the only social network that helped me pay a bill, so not that bad.
You obviously haven't heard of the terrifyingly social Venmo.
posted by clawsoon at 6:32 AM on December 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
You obviously haven't heard of the terrifyingly social Venmo.
posted by clawsoon at 6:32 AM on December 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
If you use LinkedIn suggested text for every response in a conversation (including the conversation starter, because naturally they offer that, too), what conversation do you end up having?
Anybody want to try it with me?
posted by clawsoon at 6:55 PM on December 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
Anybody want to try it with me?
posted by clawsoon at 6:55 PM on December 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
Just thinking out loud here, clawsoon, that you don't seem to have an email or full name listed in your profile here
posted by Pronoiac at 1:08 PM on December 18, 2020
posted by Pronoiac at 1:08 PM on December 18, 2020
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This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
That said, my career ambitions can be summed up as, "don't get fired or laid off until I can retire."
posted by TrialByMedia at 2:24 PM on December 11, 2020 [28 favorites]