LinkedIn has become polluted.

It started as a platform for professionals (and aspiring professionals) to network with each other to build and grow their career. It was also meant to be a platform where one can disclose any achievements or milestones that are closely related to their career. However, over time, people have started posting messages that have zero relevance to their (or anyone else’s) careers. Sadly, LinkedIn has now become a cesspool of useless and irrelevant posts, for the most part. Majority of the posts belong to other platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, not LinkedIn. Many members routinely post some message simply to be in the limelight. This trend has reduced the value/usefulness of LinkedIn as a networking tool.

I have attempted to classify the useless posts (not necessarily in the order of their irrelevance 🙂 )

• Posts supporting or opposing a political party or a leader. I think politics absolutely does not belong in LinkedIn.

• Inspirational videos, most of which are fake anyway.

• Festival greetings (Happy Diwali, Happy New Year, Merry Christmas etc. etc.). These are often posted by institutions. I have always wondered exactly who these greetings are targeting and what impact, if any, such posts have.

• Praising someone else effusively. Example: “X was born into poverty but is worth $x billion today”. OK, so what is your point here?

• Posting extremely trivial accomplishments. Once a student posted about having learnt Ohm’s law. It takes less than one minute to understand Ohm’s law. Worse, he had used ChatGPT and created a post running into three paragraphs! All for learning the most basic concept in circuit theory.

• Attempting to teach a concept. There are numerous resources online to learn a subject (YouTube, Wikipedia, Coursera etc). Why attempt to teach something with the very limited space LinkedIn provides for a post?

Below are some extreme examples of useless posts I have come across:

• One member wished his 9-year old son a happy birthday. On LinkedIn!

• One member disclosed what he ate for lunch that day.

• One school student posted about a movie she watched with her family. She has 30,000+ followers!

I dread the day when people will start posting their favorite recipes. I will probably quit LinkedIn on that day!

What can we do? Well, if you come across a post that does not belong in LinkedIn, flag it as “Not appropriate for LinkedIn”. If enough people flag irrelevant posts, it may lead to such posts being taken down or even the posters being kicked out of LinkedIn.

What can LinkedIn do? I wish they could add a “Dislike” or downvote button. Currently, there is only a “Like” button.

Let us all work together to reduce “digital pollution”.

Now, how would you classify my article above?! 😀 Let me know your thoughts.