What annoys me about LinkedIn?

A few icks I get from the LinkedIn culture.

Over-the-top self-promotion

LinkedIn – the virtual professional playground where we all simply gather to share our authentic thoughts, right?

Well…

LinkedIn undoubtedly has its perks, but there are a few things that really annoy me about it.

Let's start with the constant self-congratulatory parade.

Endless posts describing every little win. I call it the "Look at me" Olympics.

Sure, it's important to highlight your successes, but there’s no need start every sentence with "I’m happy to announce that I am better than most of you".

It sometimes feels like we're caught up in a never-ending rat race and to be honest, it can be a bit cringe.

Sales pitch syndrome

There's more.

LinkedIn users who slide into your DMs the moment you accept their connection request, trying to sell you their latest product or service.

LinkedIn is supposed to be a platform for professional networking and knowledge sharing, but it often feels like I’m bombarded with low-budget shopping ads instead.

Don't get me wrong – I'm all for entrepreneurship, but there's a time and a place for everything.

It also matters how you do it.

And attacking someone with sales pitches the moment they accept your connection request is an easy way to scare them away and gain a professional reputation of a spammer.

Plagiarism and poor quality

Finally, let’s move on to the content quality (or rather lack of it).

Whether it's due to a lack of skill, effort, or awareness, I often see posts that are nothing more than watered-down, plagiarised versions of someone else's work.

Also the rise of AI-generated content – eye-roll-inducing posts, copy pasted from ChatGPT that don’t contain any original ideas from the author.

Sure, it would be silly not to take advantage of the possibilities that AI offers us, but you can still do it in a way that won’t make the readers’ eyes bleed.

Finding value on LinkedIn

On the positive note though.

There are still plenty of users out there who are genuinely adding value to the platform - sharing interesting insights or providing free resources .

Also, LinkedIn can also be a helpful tool for job seekers and business owners - if you try enough you can expand professional network.

So, to make LinkedIn a better place for you just be merciless with unfollowing and marking annoying content as uninteresting.

Curate your feed, avoid drama, be yourself.