Supporting less heard contributors on Linkedin

Something stirred within me this week, I am a passionate person, I am an advocate for silent voices and those that are not heard.

This comes from growing up as a child where I was in an abusive family, I wanted to be heard, I was asking for help and none came. I ended up being silenced and threatened into silence for most of my life through bullying and abuse and not able to really speak up.

A few years ago, I finally decided that it was time to start speaking up about those things that many of us dare not talk about and that our abusers and others would rather we kept quiet about. You just know that the time is right to have a voice.

When I first started speaking up I realised that it came from a place of anger and was not really having the impact that it could have. Only in the last couple of years have I worked hard to start to write from a place of love about powerful things and ones that I had allowed to define my life.

Suddenly I realised that I had a voice and that it could be done in a intelligent and articulate way and one that people would listen to as it was not angry rants, however it was explaining and giving reasoning.

In the past on Social Media, I have been that person that has stood up for the maligned, the people who are ignored and sidelined and as my voice and following grew, I found that I could actually help these other people have a voice as well.

I find that if you write in an articulate and helpful way, you will learn yourself and that it could encourage that one person out there to maybe get help or to change something in their own life. I wanted to be supported as I now support other people, who does not want that "well done" just a couple of words can often so help people who feel discouraged.

On Linkedin I have see so many people who are good people, who write well and articulate themselves and yet they are not seen because of the now many "clickbait" posts that are either designed to get around the algorithm or to get the most number of likes and comments in what I consider a non authentic way.

I know that I should not let these things disappoint me or let it become a negative, however I am a human being and one who has a lot of passion and emotion and I would be more bothered if it did not bother me.

Seeing these same style posts that are overly liked by the same people day in and out has provoked a negative reaction from many people on Linkedin, right or wrong I think that it has sent a message to the Man or Woman who only has 50 followers that they have to aspire to made up stories or go after thousands of likes and popularity.

I decided that instead of the many posts where people have been upset or angry and nothing was really been done, It was time for me to speak up again and explain maybe what a lot of people were thinking and did not want to say.

The end product was a passionate thread of people who were bothered about the state of the feed and that they were struggling to be seen and being influenced by people who were really only looking to repair their own self worth and self esteem. This is not to say that ALL of these posts are not genuine, I cant really tell anymore as they all look the same including things like "Do you agree" and then copying 40 people in.

The link below should take you to the post that I created where I said that I wanted to help those that had no voice

I never thought that I would see so much passion on Linkedin and I wanted to do something with the 800 comments that were asking for something to happen. Contrary to a comment today that the thread was for me, It was always to see what could be done and to have an output and end game.

Numbers of likes may show that you have written something well, they do not change my life or bring any worth to me, a post is a post and a article is an article and I am motivated by raising awareness of Mental Illness and highlighting things that I am passionate about.

It was obvious on the thread that there were people who felt scared to post or needed some encouragement and there were those that wanted to have comment and feedback on what they were writing.

I decided on another long night of no sleep that I wanted to create a couple of Groups that would support the two different sets of people and would achieve some aims from the thread, I wanted action not just lots of posts and discussion.

I knew that I was not in any place to be able to do this myself and I had to learn from my own mistakes in the past and my mental illness that I should empower others as well and share the effort and so I asked Nix for help and she gladly accepted and has been great support to me.

Over the last 2 days, we had many discussions about the best way to support people and what was best for us and Linkedin, myself and Nix have slightly different strengths and we have combined them to provide Private support and on a smaller scale.

The idea is that between us, we encourage each other to either start writing or to ask for help and feedback and already after one day I have seen first articles from people and posts that have been supported and encouraged.

We have some Volunteers who are giving up their time and without them this would not have happened, this is not about me, this is about everybody as equals. I was told on a thread today that I had lost sight of my Tribe, when actually I have seen exactly what my tribe needed and made it happen with others.

I am proud to be able to contribute as an equal to my peers, I have no desire to be an "influencer" and have nice titles, I want to be down in the trenches supporting people where I can, I utilise my large following to also get other people seen and I have that following because people have decided that maybe I am open and authentic.

Not many people know the journey that I have been on from no voice and scared and ill to speaking up the wrong way and fighting online and getting into trouble and dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder every day.

Linkedin for me allows me to have the voice that I never had, It allows me to be creative and without fear and I am proud of that. I am also proud of all the people that are brave and overcome fears on here to put themselves out there and write or make a video from an authentic place.

This platform deserves to see more varied and authentic content and maybe as a collective, we can manage to do a small and positive thing.

Right or wrong I speak and write from my heart and from a place of love, sometimes I get it right and sometimes I get it wrong and I learn every day how to have a better voice and how to be a better person.

Thank you to my peers for continued support and encouragement.

Sending blessings and love to you all