The place to be
There are even a lot of students on the platform, willing to show themselves to potential future employers. Such statistics are impressive and should be applauded. When it comes to business opportunities and networking, LinkedIn has immense potential.
However, this isn’t without its disadvantages. The great number of bots and annoying spam is what first comes to mind, but this isn’t the topic of this article.
Niche no more
The high numbers of users inevitably changed the LinkedIn landscape. Now more than anything, LinkedIn looks like an imitation of Facebook. The value of the number of followers and the likes you receive on your posts has skyrocketed.
The content that can be seen on LinkedIn can be absolutely atrocious. From clearly fake ‘I am so smart’ success stories to obvious life advice, it can sometimes be a struggle to find valuable posts. The situation has gotten so bad there’s even a fairly large subreddit called LinkedIn Lunatic, which posts screenshots of such content. And if such posts were on any other social media platform, they would probably be ridiculed even more. I fear this situation might become even worse in the future.
Such a large number of LinkedIn users also means that today on the platform there’s more non-business content than ever. Before, discussions about random hobbies and interests were limited to dedicated groups. While I respect people having political and religious opinions, I don’t think I should see them arguing their views in my LinkedIn feed. That’s what Facebook is for. And there’s a reason why a lot of people are running away from Facebook. That’s now what LinkedIn was made for.
What will the future bring?
LinkedIn will continue to grow and, unfortunately, look more like Facebook as it naturally progresses. I won’t be surprised if sometimes further down the line another business social media platform slowly starts taking over with less ‘lunatic’ content. But until then, LinkedIn is here to stay.
The main takeaway is that content creators and businesses will have to work extra hard to have their voices heard in all this rubble. The content needs to evolve to become more worthwhile.
And thankfully not everything is doom and gloom – I’ve seen a lot of talented people on my feed producing wonderful content. The chasm between such posts and your everyday like-baiting is massive.
Therefore, businesses will need to step up their game and develop a LinkedIn content strategy if they want to still be relevant. And that’s something Adonomy can help with.
