2 mins on... Why LinkedIn is a sewer

Read to the end for escapism (from the LinkedIn hellscape)

Thank god you subscribe to this newsletter, because it means I don’t need to login to LinkedIn again today…

ICYMI: LinkedIn is now a pool of self-aggrandisement, worthless posts, meaningless comments, and ChatGPT generated trash.

My guess is that if you’re reading this you’re in one of two camps:

1. You hate LinkedIn but feel obligated to keep your account active and feel slightly dirty every time you login

2. You think LinkedIn will be key to your success and defend it’s value vehemently

If you’re in camp 1 then please read on, if you’re in camp 2 then f**k off.

How did we get here?

There’s no single reason why LinkedIn is such a hellscape, but I see four driving factors:

1. Copycats

There are a few outliers who have genuinely built a profile and added value to an audience using LinkedIn as a primary channel - e.g. Lenny Rachitsky, Rick Watson, Tom Goodwin. They moved early, concentrated on doing something original with inherent value and have benefitted from doing that consistently (over years).

Now every one else is copying them (badly) and don’t realise they’re too late.

2. Founder brands

The tactic of turning your story or perspectives into a competitive advantage has become incredibly popular (I’ve fallen into this trap in the past). Popularised by the likes of Dave Gerhardt and examples such as Steven Bartlett, every person and their dog now thinks they too can become a successful niche personality.

It’s predicated on two major misconceptions:

1. You have a story worth sharing, it’s a story with lessons others want to learn from and the audience you’re trying to reach actually give a s**t

2. The assumption that attention on LinkedIn translates into commercial success as a freelancer, agency leader, brand leader, and the like.

For 99.9% of people it won’t work.

3. Social media is addictive

Receiving likes, comments and attention is addictive - and now people can’t stop themselves.

Once they begin getting small signals of validation or encouragement, people turn the dial up and spew more and more s**t out. Unfortunately, the vast majority mistake likes and comments as genuine signals of an audience getting value rather than what it really is… An echo chamber. Most LinkedIn users are deploying the same tactic of self promotion (through thinly veiled supportive comments), thus creating an echo chamber of wannabe founder brands fluffing each other in public whilst the actual audience they want to reach is totally turned off.

No one of substance cares about your take on the latest AI trends. No serious person gives a s**t about your latest meeting. The only people who show interest are playing the same game of commenting to be visible.

4. ChatGPT

Never before have so many people had such little to say to so many people.

And thanks to the misuse of ChatGPT, bot generated posts and comments are diluting any vestige of good in LinkedIn, and it’s utterly depressing.

Now people with zero originality or creativity are spewing more inanity into our eyeballs without any effort. It’s catsh*t wrapped in dogsh*t.

How do we solve the problem?

When living in the context of minimal expectations the only strategy that makes sense is to give up all hope…

LinkedIn is gone. It can’t be saved. So extract as much return on the investment in network and profile building you’ve made to date and direct it to somewhere else (e.g. a substack newsletter like this one).

Find your kicks elsewhere, and set yourself free.

Principles for a brighter future

This is not an exhaustive list, but things that make me feel better are:

1. If your levels of success and self-loathing have to grow equally then you’re chasing the wrong thing. If being successful requires you to post incessantly on a social media platform even when you have nothing to say then stop and reset your definition of success. Because doing this for a prolonged period of time will make you hate yourself.

2. Instead of spending time every day thinking about what to post, find something more worthwhile to do - like having breakfast with your family, calling an old friend, or actually doing some valuable work… It pays off much more in the long term than s**t-posting on LinkedIn.

3. Experiment with different outlets. There’s a heap of other, more gratifying ways of connecting with people and building your profile.

4. If you feel you have to (which, to my embarrassment, I do), use LinkedIn purely as a distribution channel, turn off all notifications, delete the mobile app and check in rarely. You don’t have to reply to all comments. You don’t have to comment on every LinkedIn Voices latest post.