[libraryofbabel]

LinkedIn is the very worst social network… except for all the others.

I agree, it’s a complete joke of corporate gushing and posturing and humblebragging and wannabe “thought leaders”. And this is a great parody. I appreciate the work here.

And yet. There’s a kind of innocence to LinkedIn, no? It’s the feeling of a recruiting call or a job interview, where everyone involved knows it’s a completely artificial atmosphere but none of it matters very much, and we’ll soon step out of the game back to our real lives, with no meaningful consequences. I don’t remember any insurrections launched on LinkedIn, or successful disinformation campaigns by foreign states to subvert democracy, or hate speech fanning the flames of genocide. And that’s just Facebook - don’t even get me started on Twitter.

Don’t misunderstand me - I’d love to see LinkedIn fall into a deep deep sinkhole in the ground. But doesn’t the fun of this parody come from a place of safety? A good Facebook or Twitter parody would be much, much, darker.

[Apocryphon]

I agree with this sentiment. LinkedIn is completely vapid and full of all sorts of signaling with no effort, but there's sort of a corny charm to it. Like a compilation of office H.R. instructional videos. I'm sure that future decades' equivalent of vaporwave will incorporate LinkedIn imagery into their retrospectives of the '10s.

The data gathering that undergirds it is probably bad though, or at least when the site does things like make it impossible to opt-out of things or spams everyone in your contacts with invites.

[gostsamo]

That's why you never let Linkedin access your mail. More than five years since I created my profile there and it asks me every single time I login if I want to invite my contacts.

[sdb2295]

LinkedIn has some really hostile design to it. I hate that anyone can pay LinkedIn money and then DM me advertisements.

I think part of why I like shlinkedin (i'm the other co-founder btw), is that it gives folks a place to vent about all that shit in a fun way. And I think it's probably healthy for people to take LinkedIn less seriously—maybe this'll nudge 'em towards that.

[whatshisface]

"LinkedIn is comparatively safe relative to other communication platforms because it is not used for real communication" is not exactly a strong defense.

[sdb2295]

yah the bar is on the floor lol

[smackeyacky]

The stupid pressure of not only being expected to have a LinkedIn account, but also using it to be relentlessly upbeat is so ridiculous. I'm happy to live without FB and don't have a reddit account, use Twitter sparingly. Dropping LinkedIn is the next logical step.

[bawolff]

At least i can leave fb and twitter. Linkedin is basically expected at this point if you want a job.

[Datenstrom]

> I don’t remember any insurrections launched on LinkedIn, or successful disinformation campaigns by foreign states to subvert democracy, or hate speech fanning the flames of genocide.

That is only because it hasn't been widely publicised anywhere yet[1]. Sorry for only dropping one reference but it is the only one I have ready on hand in my library and it is late. Linkedin is far from safe, it is just as bad if not worse than the others.

[1]: https://gitlab.com/datenstrom/library/-/blob/master/espionag...

[retrobox]

Maybe once, but it feels like content on LinkedIn is becoming more and more like a Facebook or Twitter feed. Whether it’s people arguing over general neutral bathrooms or COVID-19 vaccinations.