Why's humo(u)r devalued on LinkedIn?

Why isn’t there a laughter emoji on LinkedIn? Is someone worried we’re all going to start enjoying ourselves? 

I’m on a mission to have one introduced. I like laughing and I want to be able to tell people when they’ve made me smile. You can do a smiley face in a comment, but if you just want a quick reaction your only options are serious one.

At the moment if I read a post I have the following options available: 

Like it (thumbs up)

Celebrate it (clapping)

Support it (hand holding up a heart)

Love it (heart)

Say that it was insightful (lightbulb)

Or that it made me curious (scratching chin)

However, I can’t say that it made me laugh (smiley face with optional tears)

Why is humour so devalued on Linkedin when it’s such a vital part of our life, especially in business, and especially at the moment with the pandemic and all the challenges that brings? I’ve a feeling not everyone wears a suit when using LinkedIn, so why are we all required to be so formal and stiff, as if we’ve left the coat hanger in our shirt/blouse?

There’s an argument that LinkedIn don’t want it to become like Facebook. Fair enough, we don’t want videos of pictures of kittens falling off the back of sofas, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about good content that’s insightful but also happens to be amusing in some way. The humour might be incidental; the icing on the cake, not the cake itself. 

We do business with people we know, like and trust. I like people that make me laugh. I’m much more likely to want to get to know someone with a lightness of touch, with the ability to bring humour into everyday life. 

I speak on stages all over the world on how to use humour, even in countries where they’re not really sure how to spell it. I coach leaders on how to build rapport in their communications using gentle, business-appropriate funny lines. The response they get is fantastic.

LinkedIn is a space for business but it’s also a community and a meeting place. At the moment with travel restrictions it’s the place where people gather to chat and bond. It’s the water cooler around which we stand and share stuff. That’s where we traditionally share stories that bring us together, like our ancestors around the camp fire. That all ended in the early days of business, before office chairs were properly flame-proof. 

Maybe it’s just me, missing the roar of the greasepaint and the smell of the crowd at live events, but I think not. Gone are the days when people only came to LinkedIn when they were looking for their next job. Now it’s so much more than that. Can we please reflect that and bring it kicking and screaming into the roaring twenties? 

Maybe we could start with just a smiley emoji and move on up to the big one later? The self-appointed LinkedIn police will no doubt say that’s like starting with soft drugs and before we know it we’ll all be on heroin, but I don’t think so. After everything we’ve coped with in the last twelve months surely everyone would benefit from a laughter emoji. 

What’s the worst that could happen? Someone might knock over a can of Dr Pepper?

Jem

Jeremy Nicholas - Keynote Tickler