Are LinkedIn Users Getting Too Snarky?

April 13, 2016 - PRLog -- As LinkedIn use begins to sway towards social and away from professional, members are getting louder about what they think about the posts of others. LinkedIn has long been thought of as the social media of working grownups. But, over the past year, the social flavor of posts and the grittiness of comments has increased dramatically. Controversial posts get a viral bullhorn of remarks. Whether it's an IQ test, meme, sexy selfie, or just a nice picture; users are quick to show their disapproval for what they deem inappropriate. This brings a slew of commenters who come to the defense of the unhappy poster. How did this Facebooking of LinkedIn all come about?

LinkedIn is a growing and changing animal. Social media, itself, is still in its infancy; and businesses and professionals are continuing to learn how to correctly use and leverage it as technology changes to keep pace. It's a never-ending game of catch up. LinkedIn has become much more of a potpourri of engagement and not just a bulletin board for businesses. But why the loss of reserve? This is due to two developments: the adoption of the Long Post and LinkedIn Pulse.

LinkedIn Pulse and the Long Post

In 2010, the Pulse App (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse_(app) was launched as a news aggregator for Android, iOS and HTML5 browsers to great success. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube were commanding huge amounts of time from their users. Businesses scrambled to figure out how to monetize it. LinkedIn was salivating to get usage numbers to match the other more social platforms. The look and feel of LinkedIn changed to make it resemble other social media platforms. By October of 2012, LinkedIn looked like other platforms. You would see the familiar little red notification flags telling you how many notifications and messages you had waiting, etc., just like on Facebook.

In November of 2013, LinkedIn acquired the Pulse App to integrate with its tools and create engagement like they had never seen. In February of 2014, LinkedIn rolled out its Long Post feature that gave authorized users a reach like they had never had. Certain power "Influencers" were invited to participate in the new program. They could now write longer posts that would actually appear on their own pages and were essentially, blog posts (the only feature that came close to this was the discontinued LinkedIn Answers). These posts gave the writer a much larger canvas. They could include photos, videos, links, etc. LinkedIn and Pulse would work hand in hand to send their posts out through the Pulse app and push them out to all their connections. It could be shared and showcased and really brought a new kind of value to LinkedIn.

By the end of 2014, LinkedIn rolled out the Long Post feature to all of its users.  LinkedIn Pulse was brimming with new Pulse Posts each day. LinkedIn Pulse allowed for sharing that went much deeper than just links to articles and posing questions. As users began to realize its power, it was used more and more frequently and it became a go-to blogging tool. Writers began giving their copy a less-business, more human side; more informal, telling stories, hooking readers. Unfortunately, this very powerful tool began to loose its potency quickly as users became used to the large number of notifications they were now getting and starting to ignore the content. Time went on and they began to focus more on the shorter updates again. Users would log in and just scroll down their homepage. As smartphone use and integrated apps also put this feed in their hands, they began to spend more time posting, commenting, and scrolling their LinkedIn homepage. Users began to treat their homepage more like a Facebook timeline or wall. Fun posts were becoming more of the norm than the exception. Users fought in comments over whether posts were more suitable for Facebook. Also, with complaints over too many Pulse Post notifications, LinkedIn quietly changed its algorithm in Fall of 2015 to limit who gets notified of your Pulse Posts (goodbye reach) and determine it through engagement (hello mindless likes and comments to create activity). Also, at the end of 2015, the Pulse App was dismantled. No longer would Long Posts be pushed out through the app to mobile devices. Now the reach was limited to LinkedIn and then only those members LinkedIn believes you to be engaged enough with to notify. Users continued to flood the LinkedIn homepage feed and abandon LinkedIn Pulse. The new kind of engagement was through quick posts, likes, and comments; just like Facebook and other social media.  Now LinkedIn is a thorny place. If you post the wrong thing, prepare to get some grouchy remarks.

Embrace the Snark

So, where do we stand in 2016? It's seems the pendulum has swung closer to social but the jury is still out on this one. LinkedIn is a house divided and the level of snark has reached historic heights. There's a camp that wants to share not only business related promos and news, but also "feel good" posts and fun stuff like memes and selfies. There's another camp that maintains this is not the right platform for social postings and that members should be keeping things "all business." There are numerous lists of tips on how to stay professional on LinkedIn (https://talinorfali.wordpress.com/2016/01/09/tips-to-keep...), but there is no shortage of users who will tell you exactly what they think of your posting habits. It has become an all out filibuster at times, with controversial posts garnering comments and replies contesting the appropriateness of it all and keeping the "problem" post on the top of the heap for days. I find my LinkedIn homepage equal parts, promotion, memes, snarkiness, and selfies.