An Open Letter to LinkedIn #keepLIbusinessonly

We’re living in some wild times right now. Wild in the sense that life is changing rapidly around us, so fast in fact it can be challenging to keep up with it all. This is certainly the way of the world and what we can expect for the foreseeable future. 

While change is inevitable, some change isn’t always for the best. Enter LinkedIn.

If you’re unfamiliar with the story of LinkedIn you may be surprised to know it actually went live in May of 2003. You read that right, LinkedIn got started even before YouTube and Facebook. In the beginning LinkedIn’s mission statement was ‘connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful’.

This is the foundation, the bedrock, of what LinkedIn was supposed to be.

Fast forward to today, LinkedIn now owned by Microsoft since 2016, still has this same mission yet the actual user experience of the platform is anything but business focused. A quick scroll down LinkedIn’s running content feed reveals content posted by people and companies covering literally every spectrum imaginable from business, politics, religion, personal pictures and even cat memes. Lots of memes.

This, in my most humble of opinions, is an unfortunate perversion of the platform.

Today there are literally dozens of social media platforms offering us the opportunity to connect, speak our minds, share content while being paper tigers and internet trolls. So why is it LinkedIn keeps going the way of everyone else and allowing content that isn’t business related? It’s lost its competitive advantage. Why also are we as users adulterating this platform making it like all the others?

As a daily user of LinkedIn my sole purpose for using this platform is for business purposes, so naturally this is my bias. 

I don’t use LinkedIn for anything else except business and on a daily basis wish that was the case for everyone else on the platform. I’m aware this is a big wish, perhaps colossal. There are dozens of other social communication platforms available for non-business purposes including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, YouTube, Tumblr, QQ, etc. If you want to post something non-business related you have a never-ending list of options at your disposal outside of LinkedIn.

About a year ago I made a personal decision to remove myself permanently from all other social media platforms as I felt like the time I was spending on them, along with the negativity, wasn’t providing good value in my life. As I write this it’s hard to discern the difference between LinkedIn and other platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. This, again in my most humble of opinions, is a sad statement as the idea and original intention of what LinkedIn was supposed to be is a great thing. One which I believe is greatly needed in the world of business.

So here is my ask – please stop using LinkedIn for non-business purposes. 

Take your cat memes, politics, religious statements and personal content to Facebook where it belongs.

That being said, in the nicest way I know possible, here’s what I’m not saying in the above statement:

• I’m not saying people should be censored
• I’m not saying people can’t have an opinion
• This article is NOT about politics or in relation to present day political activities, it also doesn't express my political opinions as that would be delightly hypocritical of me given the message here within
• I’m not saying one persons’ voice or idea is more important than another

I believe free speech (1st amendment) is one of the best gifts our country offers, when it’s actually being honored and enforced. My wish and ask for people to use other platforms isn’t a demand to silence, it’s a request for all of us to use better judgement when it comes to posting content. Another colossal request, I know. This also shouldn’t be construed as opinions don’t matter and or business people’s opinions are more or less valuable than opinions or content which isn’t business related.

I’m also well aware of the fact that one can simply pass by unwanted content on LinkedIn they don’t like and or remove the connection or hide the content for future purposes. While yes, that is a possible solution it doesn’t necessarily solve the problem. Hiding or just passing by unwanted content is a form of indifference. E.W. Howe is quoted as saying “The most destructive criticism is indifference”. I agree.

I remain convinced, even more so today, LinkedIn should and must remain focused solely on business. No exceptions.

If you feel the same way about removing non-business content on LinkedIn I ask you to join me in using this hash tag any time you see content that isn’t business related. 

#keepLIbusinessonly

Perhaps over time we can turn the tides and get this platform back to the way it was intended to be – for business purposes only.

Be well & live wisely.