Written on LinkedIn? Congrats! You're ONE of A MILLION.
I recently read Daniel Roth's article entitled "We Just Crossed 1 Million Writers on Linkedin. Here’s What We’ve Learned About Why You Keep Posting." It championed the milestone of having a million contributing writers on LinkedIn and highlighted some of the people that made it happen but before I began to read it I couldn't keep my eyes from focusing on the profile picture that displayed Daniel Roth’s sure-fire smirky charm of a smile, clean cut confidence and youthful good looks. ‘This dude has it all.’ I thought. I looked at his article’s statistics and gaffawed at the 520,000 views, 4,000 likes and 2300 comments. So many of us who contribute to the body of work posted on LinkedIn would love to be able to write an article and instantly have half a million people read, like and comment on their work.
But we ALL know the game is rigged. Right? Daniel and his editors pick and choose who gets to read what…don’t they? They decide if our articles are worthy to be featured by a Pulse channel for a larger readership, right?
We have all felt the sting of contributing a heartfelt, prolific or personally meaningful article that receives little to no readership attention. Come now, you ALL know what I’m talking about…we write, publish and then insecurely yet patiently wait for views. We hold our breath and wait for a "like" or a comment, we hit the refresh icon and then hit it again. We re-tweet to Tip@LinkedInPulse because we're sure the editors just didn't see it the first time. While we wait we re-read our article, making updates and then refresh again in hopes that someone was also reading it while we were reading it. C’mon, admit it. It’s o.k., : ) You're among friends. We run to our phones when they vibrate or ding in hopes that we’ll see that little red number icon telling us how many people read, liked or commented on our work …only to be rewarded with the notification that someone else just published a new article. UGH! And, if you're pathetic like me you put your phone away or take a nap to allow a bunch a time to pass so that you can go back to your article later and be surprised by the readership views, comments and "likes"...Christmas in July! Surprise! Uh...beware of the coal in the stocking. : (
So, needless to say, before I even began to read Daniel Roth's article...a raw, immature and sadly childlike emotional feeling bubbled up within me. Daniel Roth?…a half million views?! "Really" I mean… “Come on!” I’ve written over 79 articles and even if you combined all my readership stats it would not even come close to the numbers of this one post. ‘What in the world?’ And…to top it off, this slick “Richard Neville” of LinkedIn was wielding his influential “King Making” powers before the masses, most likely endorsing more of the same high profile writers that PULSE forces down my consciousness every single day. Now, he has the gall to tell me that I’m ONLY one of a MILLION writers on LinkedIn. ‘My Gosh! No wonder, no one’s reading my crap.’ It’s lost in the abyss of a MILLION writers! (My inner rant went on for a couple more seconds.) Stay with me, I'm getting to my very profound and significant point...
I’m not proud of it but a touch of envy was now washing over me and I began to read his ‘little ditty’ like a green eyed monster looking to rip apart and devour any hint of pompous favoritism towards his meticulously selected writers and precious little Influencers. (Yeah, like they needed any more support than they already garnered.) I just knew if I kept reading I would see something sinister in his written words. I was just waiting for this handsome, self assured, upwardly mobile influential executive editor (residing in New Your City) to rub my nose in the magical influence he wielded over the rest of us “common folk” writers, taunting us with his pompous snobbery and executive editorial privilege…
Uh, that's weird, it never happened.
Instead, I was pleasantly surprised when I read an informative, well written article that championed the LinkedIn writing spirit. Yes, it mentioned a few high profile contributors and some very good writers but Mr. Roth also made sure to share the importance of highlighting the articles of the everyday ‘JOE’ who contributes to LinkedIn and LinkedIn Pulse. As I read I realized that those of us who contribute articles and thoughtful posts on a daily, weekly or monthly basis where not simply 1 OF a MILLION… No, nothing could be further from the truth. We are, in fact, 1 IN a MILLION and that perspective makes all the difference in the world. Daniel was doing his part to recognize an amazing milestone and (to his and his team’s credit) is quite profound, when you think about it. A million people are writing on LinkedIn creating and amazing sea of diverse consciousness and thought. Last I looked, LinkedIn had over 360 million members worldwide. That is an astonishing number which means there are millions of other people out there that have not yet found the courage to share their voice with the rest of us. Once more, those current writers who are contributing are not ONE in a Million…They are One in 360 Million! How'bout Dat?! Boo-Ya!
If you are one of the million writers that contribute to Linkedin like some of my favorites; Brigette Hyacinth, Geeta Krishna, Paul Drury, Karthik Rajan, Nick Day, David Frank Gomes, Ahmed Hussain, Tom Dudley and most recently Barbra Upchurch. I want to thank you ALL for being 1 in a Million. Your thoughts, your words, and your written consciousness truly matters and has enriched my life. I’m grateful to each and every one of you who put in the time, sweat and courageous perspectives to share your points of view and lives with the rest of the world. LinkedIn is a vehicle that helps link us all together. Regardless of the occasional perceived slights we may experience by a post not getting the kind of response we would desire… just know that your words are inspiring others and making a difference in the personal and professional lives of people all over the world. Even, if it’s only one person, even if that one person is simply you. We are better people for putting ourselves out there and receiving the credit and or the criticisms that will surely come our way.
Daniel Roth and his staff can’t possibly read and endorse every single article we write...there's like over 130,000 submitted posts per week. They all can’t be Editor’s Picks. I encourage you to write anyway. Regardless of being given the title…you are all Influencers to me. Please keep writing and if you have not started yet…now’s the time.
Your voice needs to be heard. A drop of your wisdom in the sea of consciousness raises all ships. “All Aboard!”
“A single candle can fight against any darkness and light up a room. Its glow can be seen for miles in the gloom of dusk. A single candle can comfort our spirit in a storm as its flame tangos with the shadows and flickers with resilient hopes. A single candle can show us the way simply by standing by our side. A single candle can inspire nostalgia and warm our very souls. So too… can a single person. Burn brightly today.” ― Jason Versey, A Walk with Prudence
I AM A BlogPoet at BlogPoets.com
Daniel Roth Photo: www.dhirubhai.net
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Please follow me or add me on LinkedIn. I am the author of the book A Walk with Prudence Practical Thoughts of Wisdom for Everyday Living
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Managing Partner at OxyHouse
9 年Writing from my heart, Jason! ;-)
Writer / Reviewer at US Review of Books
9 年Thanks for this uplifting read, Jason. I've been despairing that my poetry seems to go unread on here, but you've provided a different way to think about it. :)
Spanish, English, and English as a Second Language Teacher
9 年Thanks for the pat on the back! What a well thought out perspective, this may be one of the more important articles I have read on Linkedin. Good luck with your writing!
The Opportunitypreneur?: Attorney, Consultant, Networking Concierge Connecting Businesses With Resources They Need
9 年Jason Versey, I could not read more than 2000 comments, but if it makes you feel any better, nearly every comment that I read on the post by Daniel Roth that you referenced was about the fact that Brigette Hyacinth should be an Influencer. So sure, he got boatloads of readers, but very few of the comments were about the message in his article -- the reason he received so many comments is that LI users worldwide took advantage of the fact that he created a place where they could register their unhappiness about a huge LI failure. I don't think you need to be envious of that. What was actually extraordinary about that post was the fact that it resulted in so many people calling out LI for not making ONE person an Influencer. Commenters could have suggested all sorts of people who should be Influencers, but virtually everybody who took the time to comment supported the same person (at least that is what I saw in the comments that I read). That individual was also the first person you mentioned in your list of favorite LI writers. So the good news is that regardless of how LI operates, they can't hold a real "influencer" back. Keep writing good content and people will find you and follow you.
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9 年This is a wonderful post and you are a gifted writer so keep on writing no matter if you are one in a million