The evolution from LinkedIn as a professional resume platform to what you accurately call the "Cringe Era" represents a fascinating case study in how network effects and algorithmic incentives can fundamentally reshape a platform's culture.
What strikes me most is the misalignment you identified between LinkedIn's stated mission - "connecting professionals" - and what the platform actually incentivizes through its algorithm. The preference for broetry and engagement bait over substantive professional discourse creates a tragedy of the commons where the individually rational behavior (gaming the algorithm) destroys collective value.
Your point about tying profile credentials to content quality is particularly interesting. It would be like requiring physicians on LinkedIn to have their medical advice verified against their actual board certifications - not to stifle speech, but to add epistemic weight to claims. The challenge would be implementing this without creating a credentialism problem.
The irony is that LinkedIn's $17.8B revenue suggests the platform works extraordinarily well for its paying customers (recruiters, sales teams, advertisers) even as it fails its end users. This creates a classic principal-agent problem where user experience can degrade indefinitely as long as the business metrics hold up.
I wrote about LinkedIn a couple weeks ago - the absolute joke of a platform it's become. Strip away the job search function, and I think it's useless for over 90% of the people who use it, and as toxic as any other social media platform out there. IMO, the world would be a better place if LinkedIn stopped existing. The biggest loss would be to the "LinkedIn Lunatics" Subreddit. But that's a price worth paying.
Good work. But sorry the world wouldn't be a better place if LinkedIn stopped existing. The world would be a better place if LinkedIn becomes a platform so powerful it helps billions of people fine jobs, make connections, and helps businesses with recruiting--the better way than it does today.
Yeah - I guess it becomes a bit abstract; if LinkedIn did what you say above, it would be great, but it's so far away from that, that in its current state, imo, the world would be a better place without it.
i wonder if software could provide this on the client side stitching the disparate parts into an effective experience. after all if linkedin software should be able to do it, each of our individual systems shoukd also be able to as well if sufficiently powered.
For now, LinkedIn is the best place for networking. Fake people exist everywhere,if you're authentic, they will notice you
Alright, I'll take that.
The evolution from LinkedIn as a professional resume platform to what you accurately call the "Cringe Era" represents a fascinating case study in how network effects and algorithmic incentives can fundamentally reshape a platform's culture.
What strikes me most is the misalignment you identified between LinkedIn's stated mission - "connecting professionals" - and what the platform actually incentivizes through its algorithm. The preference for broetry and engagement bait over substantive professional discourse creates a tragedy of the commons where the individually rational behavior (gaming the algorithm) destroys collective value.
Your point about tying profile credentials to content quality is particularly interesting. It would be like requiring physicians on LinkedIn to have their medical advice verified against their actual board certifications - not to stifle speech, but to add epistemic weight to claims. The challenge would be implementing this without creating a credentialism problem.
The irony is that LinkedIn's $17.8B revenue suggests the platform works extraordinarily well for its paying customers (recruiters, sales teams, advertisers) even as it fails its end users. This creates a classic principal-agent problem where user experience can degrade indefinitely as long as the business metrics hold up.
I wrote about LinkedIn a couple weeks ago - the absolute joke of a platform it's become. Strip away the job search function, and I think it's useless for over 90% of the people who use it, and as toxic as any other social media platform out there. IMO, the world would be a better place if LinkedIn stopped existing. The biggest loss would be to the "LinkedIn Lunatics" Subreddit. But that's a price worth paying.
https://atwillemployee.substack.com/p/what-linkedin-became?r=74ah12
Good work. But sorry the world wouldn't be a better place if LinkedIn stopped existing. The world would be a better place if LinkedIn becomes a platform so powerful it helps billions of people fine jobs, make connections, and helps businesses with recruiting--the better way than it does today.
Yeah - I guess it becomes a bit abstract; if LinkedIn did what you say above, it would be great, but it's so far away from that, that in its current state, imo, the world would be a better place without it.
i wonder if software could provide this on the client side stitching the disparate parts into an effective experience. after all if linkedin software should be able to do it, each of our individual systems shoukd also be able to as well if sufficiently powered.