LinkedIn can be a cringey place. As a “jobs board with a social network layered on top of it,” the platform has a consistent stream of people posting about their professional lives in moments of transition, desperation or elation.
As a result, we all consistently end up on the receiving end of everything from self-congratulatory posts where people unnecessarily declare themselves “humbled” by their own achievements to thinly disguised calls for help from people facing a daunting moment of career uncertainty. It’s no wonder some people are calling out those “friends” who only connect when they need something.
This is all part of what an article from Business Insider this week called the shame of LinkedIn. The story links this to a problem of “context collapse” on social media fueled by the reality that you are talking to all groups of people you know all at once, which can trap us all in a “culture of professionalism” where we are reluctant to be our true selves on LinkedIn because our boss and colleagues are there too.
A place where we always feel the need to be on our best behavior can never also become a place where we are truly honest.
