LinkedIn and the Art of Boastful Self-Promotion (ft.com) 52
Harry Barnes runs a Twitter account called The State of LinkedIn with more than 100,000 followers. On it, he tweets a curated selection of the most egotistical, self-unaware, jargon-ridden posts from LinkedIn members [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled]. From a report: Recent gems range from the boastful "You call it luck, I call it 80 hours a week", to the baffling "How easy is it to hire me? I interviewed myself", as well as the awful-wonderful morning routine which begins "I wake up. Instantly. From the fogginess of dreams, to the readiness of full consciousness..." Humble brags, including Mr Barnes's favourite, in which a man is pictured playing pool while a supercar just happens to be parked in the background, also feature regularly. Mr Barnes, who has worked in social media but runs the account as a hobby, says the idea is to poke fun at the ridiculous world of workplace self-promotion, rather than individuals. "All the content is sent to me," he says. "I don't trawl LinkedIn looking for it."
Mr Barnes is not the only one enjoying the lighter side of LinkedIn. There is also the @CrapOnLinkedIn Twitter feed and parody LinkedIn accounts, such as the "demotivational speaker" Mike Winnet. Unlike other social networks, however, humour is not the norm for LinkedIn, which has always been a more grown-up, professional place. For better or for worse, that may be changing.
Mr Barnes is not the only one enjoying the lighter side of LinkedIn. There is also the @CrapOnLinkedIn Twitter feed and parody LinkedIn accounts, such as the "demotivational speaker" Mike Winnet. Unlike other social networks, however, humour is not the norm for LinkedIn, which has always been a more grown-up, professional place. For better or for worse, that may be changing.
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Same for The Washington Post. All I can figure out is it's because the print ads are so subsidizing it.
Personally (Score:2, Insightful)
I can't stand LinkedIn. It's one of those things that is hard to avoid in professional life but it is infested with parasitic job agents, scammers and other irritants. Link to a job agent and prepare to be deluged with junk mail.
Even the site itself can't help but pester for more information and to use their app for no justifiable reason I can think of. Personally I take some delight in devaluing the service by acting like an information black hole, ignoring links and InMails from agents.
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Re:Personally (Score:5, Interesting)
I found LinkedIn to be very useful for work, it's a good tool for finding people, staying in touch with former colleagues, or just seeing what they're up to. I get very little spam from them. But I do not post anything there, offer as little info about myself as I can get away with, and only link to people whom I have actually met.
I also go to LinkedIn to read these inane posts with nauseating positivity, people virtually slapping each others' backs or tooting their own horn, and the sad self promotions, to remind myself why I left the world of big corporations where everyone puts up these fully fake fronts, and where the only time you'll see any "authenticity" is when the word is spelled out on some stupid Powerpoint.
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Indeed. LinkedIn is a networking and resume site. Self-promotion is the whole point. And if you think someone's profile is "jargon-ridden" it is only because you are not in the same field, and don't understand the jargon. But it doesn't matter, because it wasn't written for you.
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Networking is not self-promotion. You are doing it wrong.
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It's good for keeping tabs on the local job market. Recruiters will pester you with openings that match your current job title.
A little digging on Indeed & GlassDoor will pull up a rough salary, which is handy to know. If you're wavering on leaving or staying, that kind of reconnaissance is valuable.
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LinkedIn works for me, I just ignore the constant barrage of job offers until I actually need one.
The last two times that I needed a job, it found me through LinkedIn without ever needing to post a resume anywhere else.
FYI, I largely avoid bragging, just let my experience and references speak for themselves. It doesn't hurt that I was at a company for 11 years and encouraged internal customers to post reviews of my work.
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Not just that, even the home page is littered w/ non-professional junk of people talking about either politics, or their non-professional interests. That's what Facebook is, or at least was, for.
I liked it when it was a way to connect w/ people I actually knew, and then get introduced to other people that they knew, while searching for opportunities. It's become something else totally w/ everybody from everywhere asking to connect to me b'cos...?
I Prefer Slashdot (Score:1)
And the art of boastful self promotion of hosts file engines!
irony Much? (Score:2)
LinkedIn, which has always been a more grown-up, professional place.
I call bullshit!
If only because I actually took a look at it, and it was all self-promotional bullshit by wannabes trying to get recommendations from other bullshitting wannabes. Taking advantage of the general technical incompetence of recruiters. A whole crowd of *fake it till you make it* (both the users and the recruiters).
So what you are saying is... (Score:5, Funny)
Linked-in is Instagram for ugly people.
I wonder who they were influenced by? (Score:1, Insightful)
"I'm the best employee ever, believe me! I do more work in my sleep than regular people do awake after ten cups of coffee. Ten! My brain multitasks so brilliantly that I invent 100 products for each hour I play golf, and they are really terrific products, everyone wants them! Few people know this, but I invented golf also. I'm suing Tiger Putter for royalties even. He owes me bigly, he's know it."
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"Also, I love cocaine. It helps me think so CLEEEEEAAAAARLY"
"What you call 80 hours a week... (Score:1)
... I call burnout waiting to happen"
People who deliver professional-quality work 80 hours a week month-in month-out do exist, but most of them won't be able to sustain it year-in year-out.
Morality tales (Score:3)
I always cringe when I read those fake morality tales on LinkedIn and make a mental note never to hire those people, ever.
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Three reasons:
1) They are completely fake
2) It is virtue-signaling
3) The morality stories always come from psychotic sales people/CEO types or "coaches".
Yeah, yeah, I am SURE you bought the homeless guy in the street and sandwich and that man became CEO of your company six years later.
Instagram for guys (Score:2)
Holy dooley, that was hilarious. It's instagram for guys. I thought we were immune to such OTT self-indulgent wankery, but no, we (as a gender) are not.
A lot of guys posting their morning routine. I couldn't help but be reminded of lyrics from A Day In The Life:
Woke up, fell out of bed
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up I noticed I was late
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Made my way upstairs and had a smoke
And everybody spoke and I w
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Well, first I got up and had a piece of toast. Then I brushed my teeth. Then I went to the store to buy some fish. Then [etc etc etc] and then you threw an octopus at my window.
Not that real socnets have interesting endings. Unless you think "we hooked back up" is one.
It's not always positive press (Score:3)
Today I got a "News about XYZ" email from LinkedIn, which took me to a newspaper article about one of my former colleagues who is now vice president of a large government services firm. I was expecting something about a major contract win or a new product or service he was touting. Instead, the article was about how the company he works for is mismanaging a huge state government computer system, customers and taxpayers are furious, and the guy in charge of the agency had called my former colleague to complain but was not satisfied with the response. Not a good look. So if you're in a position to get your name in the papers, be aware that LinkedIn might help spread the word - for good or ill.
How do you network? (Score:4, Funny)
My profile (Score:2)
I know the upside of downsizing I know the downside of upgrading. I'm a high tech lo-life. A cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, bi-coastal multitasker and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond. I'm new wave but I'm old school and my inner child is outward bound. I'm a hotwired, heatseaking, warmhearted cool customer, voice activated and biodegradable. I interface with my database and my database is in cyberspace, so I'm interactive, I'm hyperactive, and from time to time I'm radioactive. Behind the eight b
It Recommends the Dead (Score:1)
And not just recent, I mean years.