Balancing Digital Minimalism and Professional Networking

“Twitter is over,” according to prolific author, Neil Gaiman. He’s not betting on Threads or Facebook either.

Cal Newport, author and champion of digital minimalism, shared his thoughts on Gaiman and social media yesterday via his newsletter.

“Between 2012 to 2022, we came to believe that the natural structure for online interaction was for billions of people to all use the same small number of privately-owned social platforms. We’re increasingly realizing now that it was this centralization idea itself that was unnatural. The underlying architecture of the internet already provides a universal platform on which anyone can talk to anyone else about any topic. We didn’t additionally need all of these conversations to be consolidated into the same interfaces and curated by the same algorithms.”

Newport shares Gaiman’s preference for a more personal and independent form of online communication, reminiscent of the early days of blogging, but recognizes the difficulty in attracting large audiences without the aid of social media algorithms. For Cal, a smaller, more engaged audience is worth the tradeoff.

Newport encourages people to “quit social media” via a popular TEDx Talk, but it’s not surprising that LinkedIn receives less focus from the minimalist crowd than other platforms given the unique position it occupies in the social landscape. Where else do you see business ties being formed on a daily basis?

Sure, there are platforms for specific professions (Behance for creatives, Doximity for doctors, ResearchGate for lab coats) and thousands of communities spinning up on platforms like Slack and Discord, but these are sidekicks to LinkedIn’s superhero. Swapping business cards at events like CES, AWS re:Invent, and SXSW is simply code for “see you on LinkedIn.” Websites like Reddit, Quora, and Stack Exchange enable information seeking more than networking. And perhaps it’s just my stage in life, but Meetup and Eventbrite are nowhere on my radar.?

So I agree with Newport’s philosophy of engaging selectively with tools that add value. At this point in my career, LinkedIn has become an essential part of the toolkit. (Very brave of me to say this here, eh?) Others find more value in Twitter - to each their own. The point is to ensure the time spent is in support of a goal and to avoid the dangers of doomscrolling, rabbit holes, and echo chambers.?

I’m curious about what you think. According to one report, only about half of my network will use LinkedIn in the next month. If you’re reading this, you’re likely nodding along. But I’d love to hear other takes!

A final note…

Cal might be steering clear of all social media, but I think he's missing out by sidestepping LinkedIn. The audience here is hungry for his insights on deep work and a deep life. It may be a tough pill to swallow, but I believe there's a way to marry Cal's philosophy with a touch of LinkedIn savvy.

What do you think? Can digital minimalism and LinkedIn coexist??