3 Reasons Why I LOVE LinkedIn After Watching The Social Dilemma

If you have watched the latest Netflix docu-drama The Social Dilemma, you may suddenly be paranoid. You may have the urge to deactivate your social media account, well it freaks me out too! ??

The Social Dilemma exposes social media’s illness. It’s a much-needed call for government regulation and for an actionable ethical reckoning within the tech industry itself. And more importantly, it allows us as a consumer to understand the effects of social media in our own life. It's a terrifying 90 minutes watch, but it's one you shouldn't miss.

To add salt to the wound, I am in a business of promoting social media as a way for me and my clients to promote their company and personal brand. 

So last week, I have been battling with my own conscious and ethics. I have silently started to take actions to avoid my electronic devices to "spy" on me. I put limits and become more aware of time spent on social media; Paranoid? perhaps, but I can't ignore some facts presented in the film. 

What I can do right now is to use the awareness and take conscious actions to balance things out. Here is the hard truth, I cannot ignore that social media is here to stay. Some may argue that we should avoid it, but here is my perspective:- Awareness allows you to be smart with your own choices and decisions, so rather than going against it, perhaps use it to your advantage. It's all about balance, just like alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sugar, or fast food - "you overuse, you die lorrr"

As I reflect, I realize that the social dilemma affirms my confirmation on the benefit of using LinkedIn as my main social media platform, here is my 3 arguments on how I can use what I learned, and leverage it by using LinkedIn: 

Argument 1: Social Media Promotes Fake News

With big tech companies like Facebook failing to curb fake news and misinformation, this documentary highlights that fake news spreads 6 times faster than true news, making this the ‘king’ of online content. 

Solution - Find la a reliable platform...

Perhaps what we need at this moment is to be aware of the platform that we choose to receive our daily information. At this moment, LinkedIn is my top of choice (I hope it will still be in the following years, but you never know).

Overall, LinkedIn was the most trusted platform for the third year in a row — and claimed the top spot on half of Business Insider’s pillars of trust.

(Source: Business Insider)

Argument 2: You get addicted and spend too much time on it. 

How social media platforms work? When it's FREE for users, social media platforms are created to treat our attention as the ‘product’, which is then sold to advertisers. The goal of a social media platforms is to take the most addictive elements of human needs and pair them with deep personalisation technologies, and then use that to present us with exactly what we want to see, cause us to use up more and more of our time, and sell our attention to advertisers.

Solution - Hey since all the professionals on LinkedIn only work Monday to Friday, switch off the bloody apps during the holidays, Duhhh! ??

Face it, you are the product! so don't allow yourself to be manipulated. Understand that you can choose what-you-consume and what-you-share.

Understanding the platform timing is also key, either you are a content creator or someone who just consume. Most creators will understand peak hours and will find ways to get your attention at a certain time in a day. Be smart and purposeful with your consumption, and what I love about LinkedIn, that it's a dead platform during the weekends and public holidays so I might just spend that valuable time to do other meaningful stuff rather than being stuck in front of a social media app.

Argument 3: You Got to Pay A Lot for Reach

If you didn’t know that the monetisation strategy of most social media companies like Facebook is to sell advertising to companies, This is why your startup’s business accounts are not reaching many people when you post free (organic) posts.

Solution - Choose a platform, that has better organic reach right now! 

The good news about LinkedIn (at this moment), they are finding ways to get you to be active on the platform, so that means it allows you to have a better organic growth to promote your product, service, thought or your causes.

Source: https://foundationinc.co/

The final takeaway from this, as much as The Social Dilemma freaked me out and I do admit, it's a wake-up call!

You really need to apply and find your balance. Be more alert on consuming, be more conscious when producing. And remember this, too much of anything will spoil everything.

P/S: Hey, I'm not anti-Facebook OK, just being conscious of my choices ??

#thesocialdilemma

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#justlanggar

#humanbehaviour