Long live LinkedIn
12 months ago I hated LinkedIn.
For me it summed up everything wrong with social media; fake, materialistic and with the added extra of being extremely transactional.
My feed was quite literally full of sh*t and I saw very few posts that resonated with me at all.
My inbox was full of messages from people trying to take from me, to sell to me or asking for something from me with nothing in return.
Notifications were turned off and the app was deleted from my phone, Linkedin was purely a stalking tool, used to find out more about people and solely because of the lack of a better alternative.
I don’t quite know when it happened, possibly at the start of this year, or what LinkedIn changed or how I changed, but I began to use LinkedIn slightly differently and it began to feel different too.
Whilst I was disillusioned with it as a platform, I did see that I had a lot of connections, so thought I should try and use it more.
I also started to be more real.
I started to share posts when things weren’t going great or when I was struggling.
I shared the wins, but also the challenges.
I started to be more myself.
Even with a brand very much about authenticity and being you, I'd been keeping up appearances and only showing the good.
I began to show the good, and the bad of me and of my business.
One post in particular got a reach of 100,000 people and it’s no surprise to me now that in that post I was one of the most publicly vulnerable and open I have ever been.
Since that post and many others, my world view on LinkedIn has changed, my feed is full of life and interesting posts from new connections and my inbox is full of people who I am genuinely connecting with.
My engagement has gone up too and I now feel like I’m genuinely building a relationship with a community of professionals.
LinkedIn is not dead, it’s alive and well.
And social media is not all fake and materialistic.
Like any substance, social media depends on your relationship with it and how you use it.
If you bring more of your real self to LinkedIn and social media in general, then your connections will show more of themselves back to you too.
Long live LinkedIn
I think you are confused with Facebook - that is the platform that is fake and stalks people - not LinkedIn. LinkedIn is real as the platform is people's CV on-line = real
chief editor | managing director @havingtime media
7 年"I started to be more myself." – love this line the most, James Routledge ?? love your authenticity – it's truly a breath of fresh air xo ??
Producer | Equalize Entertainment
7 年I still hate LinkedIn, awful platform. But your the main point here seems to be that LInkedIn didn't change, you changed your behaviour to make better use of it, and to be honest you have a mandate and business that separates itself from the masses. Good post, food for thought.