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Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

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Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#291

Post by kyuudou »

jhallenworld wrote: post #236
42_ wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now that I think about it, most of my complaints about LinkedIn is about the "news feed". Its full of mostly useless content by wannabe thought leaders drowning out a few posts which may have been insightful/relevant. Job search and add/message connections are the only features I have found useful.

Some companies require engagement with social media as a requirement for advancement. So you are not wrong about the wannabe thought leaders. This is where they go. Nobody will make negative comments on these posts- it's like making a negative comment about your boss in public.

> ...it's like making a negative comment about your boss in public.

That brings up another issue, that employment background checks are increasingly checking social media posts for "questionable" activity. It's already daunting enough to see that I can't express my true self on places like FB for various reasons but now it's a factor when I'm applying for work?

I think if it was voluntary, and for like a PR position or other very public-facing, it would be different but when I found out this was going on I was relieved that I basically checked out of social media long ago voluntarily where I was already very guarded about how I expressed myself.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#293

Post by gen220 »

hliyan wrote: post #274
gen220 wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is ultimately why I stopped using Facebook. One day, I sat down for two hours to systematically unfriend, unfollow, and click “I don’t want to see stuff like this” on all of the memes, politics, and other crap. I’d unfollow friends who exclusively shared this stuff, and tried to train the algorithm to avoid cat videos and memes. Something amazing happened in the middle. I started seeing engagement photos and wed…

Very strange. Facebook seems to more or less honor my "never show stuff from this person/page again" clicks. Also, if you unfollow someone permanently (not for 30 days), I really doubt their posts will appear in your timeline again. Unless they arrive through pages or communities you're members of.

I agree, it seemed like a bug to me at the time, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's fixed now. To clarify, it wasn't the actual page's post that was appearing in my feed, but somebody sharing the post on that page. It's somebody who I want to follow, but I'm not interested in seeing half of the things they share. The permanent un-follow thing is legit, like you said.

Another thing I noticed was that basically the same video would be posted by a dozen (and growing) increasingly obscure pages, and my friends (and fb) would share from all the different pages indiscriminately.

If you block one obscure page, another one arrives to take its place within a few days. It almost feels engineered by design, to get around the "never show stuff from this person/page again" mechanism.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#294

Post by jlokier »

jeff_vader wrote: post #216

I sort of liked LinkedIn until they (like Facebook, twitter and others) made "liking" or commenting equivalent to sharing. There's no distinction nowadays. And, as a result, my feed is now mostly recruiter memes. I also stopped reacting to any posts in any way since I don't want all of my connections to see everything I do.

I think the most important thing to understand about LinkedIn as an individual is that you are publishing what you put out there. It's not a private space and it's not meant to be (except for the messaging).

They do provide tools, at least, so you can see what other people see.

If you think of it as a professional and self-presentation network which other people understand it to be as well, then it's fair game to play that to your advantage. Signal what you want to signal.

I only "like" things that I actually like, but each time I'm conscious that it's a signal others may browse later, so I'm also careful to only "like" things that overlap with my professional side enough that I'm happy for people to see.

So for example I'll happily "like" things in (e.g.) open source hardware or cool tech that I think adds to a better world. Including stuff that may not be commercial. After all I want to work more in those fields, and I also want certain things to be seen by others for non-selfish reasons (e.g. better prosthetic limbs, say).

Doing that shows my interest in particular fields and may (perhaps!) lead to interactions I'd like. And I'll interact with things posted by people I like or respect, because helping each other is a thing.

So it's all genuine. But it's not everything I think.

If someone posts something more "social media-ish", i.e. like Facebook, or some controversial commentary, I avoid interacting actively with it on LI regardless of my opinions, because that's not what I want people to see about me in the quasi-professional realm. And as it happens it's also not what I want to see more of on LI either.

One of the things I like about LinkedIn is you can actually get your personal data (when that feature isn't broken - it has bugs too), and you can easily browse what other people can see about you, including your trail of likes and comments etc. Being informed about my trail, I feel the platform is less misleading, and in some ways less abusive, than some other social media platforms.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#295

Post by acd »

I think we are past peak social network. At the plateau of productivity whatever that means for social networks.

I think it’s healthy to question what value if any the network provides. Plus what kind of personal info you give away about yourself. Social network news feeds are designed like slot machines with random awards, so that you login and check it every now and then.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#296

Post by paul7986 »

Ive found just about all my software/UX Design gigs on Linkedin via recruiters.

Also, it's been a way to get my next best deal via job hopping and starting conversations with recruiters telling them how much Im making (which is really how much i want for my next job). Either the conversation continues or I went to high and it doesnt. Now out of 100 times doing this I've landed 5 to 10 jobs over many years. A lot of the times I'm not looking, but interested in what the market will bear for my experience.

Personally, couldn't imagine deleting Linkedin.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#297

Post by artsyca »

felipemnoa wrote: post #151
artsyca wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First thing I did was block the usual mega influencers and it got super quiet.. Not to mention any names but you know who I'm talking about.

>>Not to mention any names but you know who I'm talking about. Not trolling but I'm willing to bet that the majority here in HN, including me, do not know who you are talking about.

Oh c'mon you know the top influencers on the leaderboards.. The guy with the clever cranium, the lady with all the stories about people she didn't fire who turned out to be awesome. Don't make me spell it out. You know what to do with your idols.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#298

Post by artsyca »

dghughes wrote: post #176
felipemnoa wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Not to mention any names but you know who I'm talking about. Not trolling but I'm willing to bet that the majority here in HN, including me, do not know who you are talking about.

To me it seems like (in no particular order): Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, Richard Branson, Guy Kawasaki.

To name a few but you're missing the top dogs the ones who can't even squeeze any more connections and give advice on how to gain more connections.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#299

Post by gregdoesit »

It’s clear from the comments that many people have no positive experiences with LinkedIn. For me, LinkedIn was the tool that not only helped me get into better companies, but also introduced me to Hacker News.

I joined Skype/Microsoft, then Skyscanner, then Uber: all after a LinkedIn recruiter reachout. They were opportunities I did not know or think about and I would have never applied to any of them at the time. I was very happy the time working in investment banking, and had zero reason or motivation to change this up. I needed that "nagging" from a recruiter to actually consider what if I was building the next Xbox that millions of gamers will use on day one, instead of a trading system that no more than a dozen of traders use.

In hindsight, all the positions were a step up in professionally, financially, and from a personal growth point of view. I even learned about Hacker News when I was working at Skype, from colleagues. If it wasn't for LinkedIn, I might have permanently been stuck in investment banking and my career would have turned out very differently.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#300

Post by take_a_breath »

pnako wrote: post #172
take_a_breath wrote: post #140

LinkedIn jumped the shark when they started heavily promoting their skill endorsement section. I remember receiving a notification that my mom endorsed my ability to perform discounted cash flow analysis. She didn’t know what a discounted cash flow was, but endorsed me all the same. This is the moment it became spam. I do still use it for job searches.

Your mom probably knows you better than any of your colleagues. Did you lie when you wrote you have the ability to do a DCF analysis?

I didn’t lie when I indicated I know DCF, but mom knew almost nothing about my professional work. She was able to endorse me without any knowledge and that pretty much eliminates the value of an endorsement.

I realized then that it was more of a social network than a business network.

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