LinkedIn’s Clashing Cultures

by | Mar 24, 2014

Blue boxing gloves isolated on white backgroundLinkedIn launched in 2003.

In over a decade of existence, the professional networking site introduced plenty of changes.

  • Some cosmetic
  • Others more fundamental

Depending on your perspective, you may or may not applaud those changes.

In my five years as a LinkedIn member, the biggest change I observed was in the culture.

Online marketers and social media aficionados began invading the hallowed ground of more traditional LinkedIn members. Gradually, there was a shift in culture, causing a rift between members with very different ideas on business networking.

  • Will LinkedIn’s clashing cultures lead to its demise?
  • Or can we all get along?

LinkedIn History Lesson

For those of you who are on the fence about LinkedIn, allow me to provide you with a brief history.

From the beginning, LinkedIn’s focus was on business networks – not the more casual social networks like the then-popular MySpace, which launched shortly after LinkedIn.

The founders saw the promise in moving businesses beyond paper resumes into personal, professional networking. The following infographic offers you a visual history.

LinkedIn History-Blog

A Shifting Culture

I began to see a shift in culture the latter part of 2010, spilling over to 2011.

  • In May 2011, LinkedIn went public with (at the time) the biggest IPO since Google
  • A year later, the networking platform released sweeping design and architectural changes

Corporate Transition

When I left a 30-plus-year corporate career, I had no idea what social media was. Can you believe that was in 2008? Not that long ago.

Don’t laugh. There were a lot like me. And while that may not be the case today, I can assure you, there are plenty of business people who want little or nothing to do with social media.

My social media ignorance is one of the reasons I was drawn to LinkedIn. It was comfortable. LinkedIn was business networking without the cocktails.

  • The profile was a converted resume
  • LinkedIn Groups were online industry conferences

I could relate to this platform.

Features Gone Bad

Two of my favorite features were LinkedIn Answers and Groups. If you are not familiar with them, click on the links for prior posts on the topics.

Alas, LinkedIn eliminated my faved feature, Answers.

Groups have undergone a huge transformation. In my humble opinion.

Even before Group owners had the option to make their Group discussions open to the public (promoting search engine optimization), I saw a big change.

  • An increasing number of self-promoting posts in discussions
  • Headless groups slapped together by a mostly missing Group owner
  • Creation of Groups as an excuse to spam members’ email Inbox

In the early days of my membership, I found the Groups full of generous, professional people. The majority still have professional members. The difference is the self-promoting noise drowns them out.

Productive Groups still exist. However, I have found it more difficult to find them. Success relies on the owner’s management of the Group.

Somewhere along the way, certain members viewed LinkedIn as their personal free advertising platform.

Rule Breakers

LinkedIn Agreement provisions are regularly ignored (check out #6).

As I was writing this post, LinkedIn released a revised Privacy Policy and User Agreement. Pulse and SlideShare are adopting LinkedIn’s Terms of Service.

I’ll review the changes more closely and let you know in a future post if there are significant changes. However, some of the rules cited in my previous posts remain. The following are a few of the most abused.

  • Did you know it is an Agreement violation to invite people you do not know to your network?
  • You also may not “Harass, abuse or harm another person, including sending unwelcomed communications”
  • Doesn’t that open a can of worms?

Facebook Fallout

If you want to ruffle the feathers of a LinkedIn purist, add Facebook-like updates to your feed.

Paraphrasing one member’s viewpoint ~

This is a professional networking site. Stop wasting our time with your Facebook nonsense like what word do you see first.

Member Opinion

I reached out to my connections on LinkedIn and asked them the following.

  • What do you like about LinkedIn?
  • What do you hate?
  • Any pet peeves?

In my next post, I’ll share responding members’ opinions and a few of my own.

  • If you would like to share your opinion, please do so in Comments
  • If you would prefer to remain anonymous, use my Contact Cathy form to share your opinion

Thank you.

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NOTE: Thank you to all who viewed my 10-Part Marketing Plan Process.

The next several posts turn our attention to various social media platforms. I would love to hear your point of view. What are your favorite platforms and why?

16 Comments

  1. Jennifer Mattern

    I still haven’t forgiven LinkedIn for getting rid of Answers. 😉

    I’ve joined a few groups, but I mostly lurk. I find there’s an odd mix of conversations at times, including many that leave me scratching my head wondering if people would ever bring these things up in person. I’ve seen groups that don’t adhere to their own mission (like a group for nonfiction writers where people routinely talk about writing novels). And while I haven’t seen a lot of overly self-promotional drivel, I’ve seen a few repeat offenders who can’t seem to take a hint.

    This is the way it goes though. Ever since social media as we know it came to be, there has been a pretty standard lifecycle (just longer for some sites than others). A big part of that is always the invasion of promotion whores (SEOs, Internet marketers, and people just high on their own sense of self importance). They always ruin things for everyone else. I think so far LinkedIn has done a far better job of dealing with them than other social networks. But it’s still a sad transition to watch.

    Reply
    • Cathy Miller

      Oh, thank you, Jenn! I thought I was alone in my frustration of the loss of Answers. I so loved the true sense of sharing that went on there.

      I agree that LinkedIn does do a better job than other social media platforms of keeping the spammers controlled. But, can any platform truly control it before they find the latest spammy tactic -like guest posts. 😀

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Jenn.

      Reply
  2. Sharon Hurley Hall

    Great post, Cathy. I like LinkedIn, sort of, though I find that groups are spammier than they used to be. I love the new contacts, because I was a ConnectedHQ user. I also like the integration with Slideshare. I’ve found that the site is a lot noisier now that it’s become more social but I still find that I see different (sometimes more interesting) things on LinkedIn from a business perspective.

    Reply
    • Cathy Miller

      Thank you, Sharon. I’m with you on the Groups. Like I said, it’s much harder to find good Groups-IMHO.

      You know I ♥ SlideShare 😉 although I am afraid its effectiveness is going to be lost as well due to the sheer volume. Like I shared with you, my views are way down. And we know it couldn’t be me. 😉

      You are right, Sharon. LI does seem to offer more opportunity than some of the other platforms for finding a good business read.

      Thanks for dropping by and sharing your view, Sharon.

      Reply
  3. Fiona Young-Brown

    I still use LinkedIn and find it invaluable for reaching out to sources for articles. However, I miss Answers and find that I rarely use the groups any more (too spammy). One other thing I’ve noticed recently is how hard it is amidst all their site redesigns to find a simple list of all my connections.

    Reply
    • Cathy Miller

      Hi Fiona. I agree. LinkedIn is still my #1 go-to platform. I am so glad to hear I am not alone on the loss of Answers. And isn’t it the truth about Connections? It does seem harder to get a simple list.

      Thanks for weighing in, Fiona.

      Reply
  4. Anne Wayman

    I never even knew there was an Answers!

    I participate most in groups that are well mentored or led.

    LinkedIN’s attempt to move announcements of things and promos to a promo section renders all of them useless because no one looks.

    I have way more questions than answers.

    Reply
    • Cathy Miller

      Hi Anne. I agree that although the intent might have been a good one, the Promotions is pretty useless.

      What questions do you have? I would love to try to help you “answer” them. 😉

      Reply
  5. Anne Wayman

    okay, I just got a notice saying someone who does wood finishing looked at my profile. However, when I click on his profile (who knows, maybe he wants me to write a book, yes?) I get this:

    You and this LinkedIn user don’t know anyone in common
    You can only view the profiles of users within your network. However, as you add connections, you may discover people you know in common.

    so how is this info helpful to me? When I click links LinkedIn wants me to add more contacts…

    Reply
    • Cathy Miller

      On the one hand, I can see where someone searching for candidates (for whatever reason or project) probably wouldn’t appreciate being contacted after they decided the profile he or she viewed did not fit the need.

      Even though I have seen LI “experts” recommending that you contact anyone who viewed your profile, I find it stalker-ish. 😉

      But, I totally agree, Anne, if it’s against LI policy to invite that person to your network or send “unwelcomed communication,” then why does LI give you access to who viewed your profile?

      Great point, Anne. I’m going to do a bit of digging and see if I can find more on this subject.

      Reply
  6. Valerie Bolden-Barrett

    Nice post, Cathy. Your initial experience with LI was similar to mine. I find LI to be the least toxic of the social media sites; it’s the most business-like and least intrusive of the bunch. But the few groups I joined became self-promotion platforms for members. And like social media in general, LI makes too many assumptions about my connections, likes and interests. Thanks for laying out LI’s history and some of its decline during these past few years.

    Reply
    • Cathy Miller

      Thanks, Valerie. Boy, did you hit on a pet peeve of mine. I hate how social media platforms assume they know best about my wants and needs. It’s a middle child of 7 syndrome I am cursed with. I hate people telling me what to do or think. 😉

      Thanks for sharing your view, Valerie. I do appreciate you dropping by.

      Reply
  7. Valerie Bolden-Barrett

    I’m a middle kid, too, Cathy! We’ll have to start a new LI group for middle kids who hate social media telling them what to like (ha ha).

    Anne made a good point about looking into profiles.

    Great website, Cathy.

    Reply
    • Cathy Miller

      LOL! It’s good to be understood, isn’t it, Valerie. 🙂 Thank you for the lovely compliment. And I agree. Anne makes lots of good points. 🙂

      Reply
  8. Diana Schneidman

    Cathy,

    Years ago I paid big bucks to a consultant for advice on how to improve my internet presence.

    She said my thoughts on the subject were wrong, wrong, WRONG and that I must devote my life to answering questions on LinkedIn answers.

    I didn’t like her advice so I largely ignored it.

    Then a few years later I heard they were dropping Answers literally within days and that I should go in and save my contributions if I ever wanted to access them again. So glad I didn’t waste time on it.

    All these networks change their ways at the drop of a hat. Never put in more effort than you can be prepared for its going down the drain.

    -d

    Reply
    • Cathy Miller

      Hi Diana. My personal consulting advice is never, never, NEVER follow anyone’s advice who says you are wrong, wrong, WRONG. 😀 So glad you marched to the beat of your own drum, Diana.

      You bring up a really good point on investing everything into a platform that may be gone tomorrow. Thanks for sharing your view and insight.

      Reply

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