LinkedIn & Diversity

In this edition of LinkedInformed, I share my views on why taking a more diverse approach to LinkedIn and how it can help us be more successful. I also tackle the tricky issue of profile pronouns! but before all that…

This article has also been recorded as a podcast;

Linkedinformed on Google podcasts / LinkedInformed on Apple podcasts

Interesting Stuff I Saw This Week

LinkedIn Tests New 'Dark Mode' in its Desktop App. I’m not sure why people get excited about this stuff but it does seem to be an important feature for many, so good news.

LinkedIn bets on remote events, investing in $5 billion-plus virtual platform company Hopin. This is an interesting move by LinkedIn demonstrating their belief that virtual events are going to continue to be important after the pandemic. Hopin also owns Streamyard which is one of the three main LinkedIn Livestream partners - I doubt this move will change anything on that front but it’s worth keeping an eye on whether they become more integrated with Streamyard.

New feature. Create a re-share post from a comment you make on the original post. This is a bizarre feature…we know that re-shares are largely ignored in the feed so by using this option you are unlikely to reach many people with your re-share post plus you are removing the benefit of your comment to the original post! There is no way the algorithm is going to put the post (together with your comment) and your re-share in the feed of your followers so I can only assume it only distributes the re-share…crazy!

Why are post views dropping? This seems to be an annual question! I think many people are linking the recent introduction of Creator mode with an apparent drop in view numbers, I find this very hard to believe, here’s what I think is happening;

Firstly, view numbers are an unreliable measurement because we rely totally on the accuracy of the information provided by LinkedIn and we know that LinkedIn frequently get things wrong! My advice is to always focus on engagement statistics - at least we can see they are genuine!

In addition, this recent drop has coincided with an increase in the prevalence of polls - a post type that is attracting way more views than they should normally so the algorithm must be boosting their visibility and this has to be at the expense of other posts.

Finally, the quality of content on LinkedIn is improving and at a faster rate than the number of active members. Therefore the amount of post real estate available is limited so the increase in views experienced by those that are improving the quality of their content is being taken from those that are more established.

Diversity

LinkedIn is a very diverse place…but only if we make the effort to look for it. As with most social media networks, there is a danger of becoming locked in our own echo chambers. The algorithm will serve up content on our hame page feed that we have previously demonstrated an appetite for, LinkedIn will suggest connections similar to us, and without realising it we can become narrow in our thinking.

I have become more aware of this over the last 6 months or so and I’m trying to counter this by keyword searching for content that is different from that which I normally engage with and then following and engaging with members that see the world very differently from me. It’s early days and this hasn’t really filtered through to my content as yet but I already feel that it has made me a better person and more effective at my job.

I am trying to follow more people from minority groups and read posts that, I might initially feel I disagree with, but I am taking the time to read the comment threads to challenge my opinions and try to see the world through the eyes of people very different from me.

Comment threads take time to read through but they really can be seriously educational. Too often we see posts in our feeds that we read and maybe engage with but how often do we take the time to read the comments, at least a section of them? I would advise you to try it - you will likely find yourself challenged and educated and you may well find some really interesting people to follow.

LinkedIn Profile Pronouns.

One such example and one I have really struggled with is the recent introduction of pronouns as an addition to the name field on LinkedIn profiles. My initial reaction was ‘The world’s gone mad’ and ‘How very woke’!

Then I remembered an incident that I witnessed many years ago. I was at a corporate function where they had engaged a table magician called Faye Presto who happened to be transgender, although this was completely irrelevant to her performance. She was absolutely brilliant and thoroughly entertaining so I and a few colleagues made a point of buying her a drink at the bar afterward and congratulated her on her amazing performance. While we were chatting with her another colleague came over and said loudly “well-done sir, that was an amazing show”!

Faye was clearly offended and the atmosphere dive-bombed immediately - it was horribly awkward! At the time, I thought my colleagues’ comment was insensitive and foolish but when chatting to him later, it became apparent that his mistake was completely innocent and born out of ignorance…he genuinely didn’t know how to address her and deeply regretted the offence he had caused.

So I could see a very sensible, practical reason for introducing pronouns - a simple way to avoid the kind of embarrassment and frustration I had witnessed in the above incident - not woke at all, just a really good feature.

Then I noticed people who are clearly female using (she/her) and men using (he/him). Why on earth are they stating the blindingly obvious?

In line with my initiative to challenge my thinking about such things, I started to search for content and opinions about this subject.

If you are interested in understanding why people use pronouns and other interesting perspectives, I would strongly suggest watching Karens video above and reading the comment thread from both these posts above (just click on the posts).

Having considered a variety of opinions on the matter, I’ve come to the view that the pronoun field can be used however we want to but it’s never OK to be disrespectful to others so people that are making a joke of it are just being offensive and effectively bullying others - that may not be their intention but it’s clearly the result.

The custom option of this feature (see above) allows you to write anything you wish in your pronoun field (up to 25 characters) and some people who do not wish to use a pronoun are seeing this as an opportunity to use this highly visible profile real estate to add some extra description of what they do. In the video above Martin Stark considers this to be disrespectful - I disagree.

Mocking pronouns is disrespectful, using them for something else isn’t in my opinion. Diversity is about gaining a better understanding of how people different to you think, act and feel and then being able to show empathy for them. It’s not about pleasing everyone and acting in a way that is inauthentic.

That said, I would not advise using your pronoun field for promotional and business descriptive words. Not because it’s offensive but because it might get you into trouble with LinkedIn! They have designed this field for one purpose only and using it differently could get your account suspended.

I have no issue with people using a pronoun to show support for others - that is their choice, I do have an issue with people who criticize others for ‘misuse’ when they are effectively doing the same thing by using a pronoun field that is clearly not required! There is an argument that ‘being an ally’ of transgender people in this way is a passive-aggressive shaming of those that choose to not use the pronoun field!

The key thing here is showing respect for others. My guess is that many people are battling with this - feeling that they don’t really want to use a pronoun but don’t want to offend people either. It’s a tricky issue but you can’t go wrong so long as you are respectful to others and remain true to your values.

Diversity is alive and well on LinkedIn but you do need to make an effort to seek it out because it won’t come to you.

Post of the Week

We have two crackers for you this week and both are relevant to diversity. The first is from the previous week when I didn't publish LinkedInformed.

Emma delivers a powerful and brave post that attracted a huge amount of comments, mostly supportive but there were some that were disrespectful plus the usual ‘this should be on Facebook’ tribe pitching in!

Emma isn’t using the pronoun field, it’s difficult to know whether this is because that feature is not yet available to them or out of choice but it’s potentially an interestingly different take on the pronoun debate.

This week’s post of the week (below right) is a very different sort of diversity. An economist’s alternate view of cycling, an environmentally friendly and healthy activity but an economist may see it very differently! It’s a bit tongue in cheek but it’s definitely a great example of diversity in thinking and an excellent post.

That’s it for this week. Have a fantastic week ahead and feel free to get in touch with any feedback on this subject.

This article has also been recorded as a podcast;

Linkedinformed on Google podcasts / LinkedInformed on Apple podcasts

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