Do you "like ????" your own posts?

I have a basic understanding of how LinkedIn’s algorithm works. I know how to take advantage of it and I have respect for experts who say that liking your own posts is valuable. And yet I refuse to “like ????” my posts.

Perhaps there’s a bit of unapologetic obduracy that compels me not to follow such advice. However, it’s not solely because I refuse to listen to others: I find Simon Sinek’s counsel on measuring momentum very appealing. I believe it is much nobler to chart a steady (even if slow) upward trajectory than a chaotically haphazard path towards some arbitrary point-goal labeled “success”. I, too, am genuinely curious whether I have offered something of value. (When I get around to writing my next book, I hope I can emulate Mr. Sinek and have it be a best-seller without marketing!)

The other reason I don’t “like ????” my own posts is that LinkedIn’s algorithm is local and ephemeral, whereas the value of eschewing narcissism is universal and immutable. Long after LinkedIn’s algorithm has been modified – or LinkedIn itself has been superseded by whatever the next technology wave brings – one’s “self-likes” will survive in someone’s (or something's) memory – most importantly, in one’s own.

None of us follows up a well-made point in the real world with “I like what I just said”. If the digital self is an extension of our corporal self – after all, it’s the space where we now work, play, meet friends, and even lovers – then shouldn’t we follow the same ethic online, too? [1]

So what do you think? I’d love to hear from you. 

Footnote

[1] I wouldn’t make the opposite inference: that we take our cues for real-life behavior from what passes for normal online. This hilarious (but NSFW) video makes this point quite effectively.