Social media has its fans and its fair share of haters, too. But we can’t get away from it for long. Or at least most of us can’t — and the one channel I won’t leave any time soon is LinkedIn.
If you’d like to check out my other blog posts on LinkedIn, here’s the collection!
I use LinkedIn each morning for 10–15 minutes and another time or two before the day ends. I use it to find new connections and prospect for new clients. I spend time there fostering existing relationships, sharing what I’m working on or thinking about and repurposing some of my older blog content as LinkedIn articles.
I also use LinkedIn as a CRM tool. (See my Why Customer Relationship Management Systems Aren’t for My Small Business article from last year.) I like finding my connections’ contact information, seeing what they’re up to lately, and having an easy way of shooting them a quick how-are-you-doing message.
(Sidenote: In case you didn’t know, one of the services I offer clients is social media management. So I have to stay connected to at least the four social media channels they use: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.)
What People Hate About LinkedIn
On January 1, I kicked off a LinkedIn challenge (“tackle 21 tactics any time during 2021”) and invited people to join me. I asked those who signed up what they like the most and least about LinkedIn.
I enjoyed reading everyone’s’ opinions and wasn’t surprised to see what people like — namely, having a place to connect with (and keep up with) people.
Many more of the challenge participants shared what they don’t like about LinkedIn. In some of the responses, I could feel their utter frustration coming through their email messages! Yes, people do have their hot buttons when it comes to LinkedIn, even if they generally like the platform.
Here are the top five things challenge participants said get them riled up about LinkedIn:
- New connections who try to sell you something right away
- LinkedIn groups (either because of the quality of what people share or because it seems like everyone is selling there)
- Political posts
- How LinkedIn is becoming too much like other social platforms
- Some people brag about themselves too much
The population of my survey is admittedly small, with not quite 120 participants in the challenge as I write this. But if you ask your LinkedIn connections their opinion on this topic, I bet you’ll hear the same things.
What I Hate About LinkedIn
If I had to choose my biggest beef about LinkedIn from the top five shared with me, I’d say it’s a tie between numbers 3 and 4. (Read It’s the Facebookification of LinkedIn, All Over Again for my thoughts on number 4.)
I stay away from sharing my political opinions on LinkedIn (every social channel, for that matter), though I might “like” an occasional political post. When I see someone posting something political on LinkedIn, I quickly jump to the comments section to see what people are saying. I see responses from two camps (just like our country, right?) — lots of thumbs up and also quite a few comments like this: Take your opinion over to Facebook, will ya?!
I could say a lot more about my thoughts on sharing political opinions and news on LinkedIn, but I’ll save those thoughts for another blog post.
What’s Your Opinion?
What are your favorite things about LinkedIn? And what drives you batty? I’d love to know, so please leave a comment below or email me.
Before you go, would you like to make the most of the time you spend on LinkedIn this year?
I created this checklist with tasks from the LinkedIn challenge. Handy, right?
Join my challenge and the fine folks who are doing it with me! We’re tackling these 21 tactics, doing them in any order and at the pace we choose. Having the full year means checking off about two tasks each month if you start in January. And it’s still doable if you discover the challenge later in the year.
To help you stay on track, sign up here to get the challenge instructions and the downloadable checklist pictured here. You’ll also receive periodic challenge updates and encouragement from me.
See you on LinkedIn!
“I Don’t Want to See This” needs to appear as an Linkedin Member option for every post. A connection of mine was making a very legitimate reply to a political post. I was trying to report the author of this political post. Unfortunately, I reported my connection. Linkedin needs to change this policy.
Good point, Doug! It should be easier to block things we don’t want to see.
Hi, I enjoyed your article. I also dislike people trying to connect with me for no reason other than I am a female. Usually someone who deals in bitcoins or is an engineer.
I moved to Springfield Missouri when I was 10. Even though I live full-time in an RV, I call Kansas City home. Right now I’m in Casa Grande, AZ. Last year at this time, I was in Mesa. Do you still have family in Missouri?
Hi, Peggy! I agree with you about the dating aspect (not!) of LinkedIn. That’s happened to me a couple of times, too — I’m like, geeze, I’m old and married, are you sure you want me? lol
That’s cool to know about your MO connection and how you lived in Casa Grande and Mesa for a while. I’m in Queen Creek, so Mesa is nextdoor! My son still lives in MO (Columbia). He’ll move away from there when he graduates in May. Wish he would come to AZ but I don’t think he will.
I agree with all five negatives.
I do, too, Brenda! Have a great week and thank you for checking out my blog post. 🙂
I don’t like the ‘connect’ feature of LinkedIn’s mobile app, which immediately shoots out a connection request without giving you the opportunity to write a brief note like the desktop app allows. I hate getting connection requests with no context, and I try never to send them to others, but have done so by mistake a couple of times.
Me, too, Lori! I wish it were a different experience on mobile. Last week, I quickly sent a follow-up DM to a person who didn’t get a personalized invite. I apologized and blamed the impersonal request on my phone!
Thanks for your note, Susan! My challenge lasts 365 days — it’s open through Dec. 31. Ilise Benun has the 21-day challenge with AWAI. Can be confusing, I know!