For me, LinkedIn remains one of the more serious social networks, despite its occasional algorithmic missteps. But over time, I’ve noticed an interesting anomaly.
It seems to me that a large number of people on LinkedIn aren’t really there to participate. They’ve created a profile simply because it’s a must-have these days. Like a business card. Like a nice suit hanging in the closet: you don’t wear it often, but it’s important to have it.
The profile is polished, the photo professional, the job title serious, the company listed, a few hundred or a few thousand connections. And then—complete silence. Sometimes you wonder whether they actually created a LinkedIn profile or just left a digital memorial to their career. Connecting isn’t exactly easy anymore.
Sometimes I feel that a connection request goes through a more rigorous process than a credit application. They study the profile, the job title, the company, the number of mutual connections… The only thing probably missing is a credit check.
Sometimes it seems you need an American Express Black card just to get someone to accept your connection request. And then, when they finally accept you, very often nothing ever happens again.
Of course, no one is obligated to post every day or comment on everything they read. I completely understand people who prefer to observe rather than express themselves.
Yet a social network without social interaction eventually becomes nothing more than a directory with better photos and flashier job titles. And that’s a shame.
I’ve never seen the value of LinkedIn in the number of connections listed under someone’s name, but rather in the fact that it has enabled us to talk to people we probably would never have been able to reach just a few years ago.
You can read the thoughts of someone from a completely different industry, engage in a meaningful conversation with someone you’ve never met, share an experience that might save someone a few years of wandering, or meet a future partner, a colleague, a client, or simply an interesting person.
For all of this, however, it’s not enough just to have a profile. Sometimes you also have to be active.
Even if we’ve filled out our profile, uploaded our best photo, listed our positions, and connected with half the business world, it would be nice to say something every now and then.
Even if it’s just so people know the profile wasn’t created by an algorithm on its own.
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