At the end of 2021, business was slow. There appeared to be a lot of malfunctioning within the company. A number of colleagues left for various reasons. And even within that reduced team, there was still little trust in each other's abilities. In fact, this was the first time in the existence of my own company that I considered pulling the plug.
That was not what I posted on LinkedIn. In fact, I didn't post for a while then anyway. I had other things on my mind. The fact that everyone seems to be doing well on LinkedIn has partly to do with the fact that we prefer to share our successes rather than hang out our dirty laundry. That is a human trait.
To showcase that positivity, everyone has their own social media channel these days. The younger generation has fled to TikTok because the "older" generation is on Facebook. The influencers share stories on Instagram, vloggers do their thing on Youtube and anyone who wants to find more business info is on LinkedIn. I prefer that one, too.
As an entrepreneur, I find it extremely inspiring to read how others tackle certain challenges or manage successes. In fact, it was advice I came across on LinkedIn that made us work differently. As a result, we now get more done with fewer people. And I also found new colleagues partly thanks to LinkedIn. There is always someone (or a few hundred people) who can help.
In addition, I myself really have nothing to do with cold calling Or the familiar networking drinks. LinkedIn, on the other hand, gives me instant background on someone. Moreover, potential contacts come your way because they like one of your articles or posts. That's a lot nicer getting acquainted than just walking up to someone knowing you want to sell something.
People also respond more substantively on LinkedIn. If someone disagrees with something (and that still happens sometimes in my case), at least you get a substantiated counter-argument (sometimes even lengthy). A previous column "Why it's better to wag your tail than complain", was received positively on LinkedIn. On Twitter, it quickly went from "he must be driving Tesla" to the now familiar digital death wishes.
And yes, of course people do prettify their profiles here and there. People who introduce themselves as [name], ex of this or that tech company (by the way, there are actually people who have their title more important find than their salary). Not "speaker," but TEDx speaker, because that's the elite of the speaker segment or people who do nothing all day but praise themselves on your timeline. Then again, you know immediately what kind of people you are dealing with.
I also see more and more cheerful (non-business) messages passing by under which someone always reacts irritated that this kind of content does not belong on LinkedIn. If this bothers you, you can simply unfollow the other person, right? Since the appearance of the film The Social Dilemma we worry about the fact that an algorithm determines what our world looks like. But if you constantly worry about others, whom you note you have started following yourself, then you miss the beautiful things. Just like in ordinary life.
