What LinkedIn Needs To Learn From Clubhouse This Very Minute
(You read that right)
I had a call yesterday where the conversation turned to how unenjoyable the other person is finding LinkedIn these days; which, in my line of work is like saying they also reported finding that water is wet.
But then they said something that stopped me in my tracks: “Why does every single person think they need to be posting on LinkedIn every single day, because I don’t want to know what they think on most subjects.”
What. A. Thought Starter.
Manically, I rapid fired back direct answers to the question:
Because of the introduction of dollars and brand deals, and the opportunity to monetize reach and a larger following.
Because thought leaders no longer feel they’re the academics and influencers are the strippers of the internet—they feel like they can be thought leaders and monetize their content as influencers at the same time.
Because of marketing gurus! Who tell people that if you know 10% more than someone else you can sell to them.
Because of marketing gurus! Who said you have to get on LinkedIn.
Because of marketing gurus! Who told us we all need a personal brand and LinkedIn is the place to build it.
Because of the same reason people launch podcasts: To grow audience while maintaining executive presence.
Because it’s a key social media platform where—even though they’re prioritizing video—you can still grow substantially without it.
Because it’s validating when people like, love, applaud, support, or share your ruminations.
To be candid, I’m less interested in why everyone thinks they could/should/must post: I’m more interested in what that means for the end user, who logs into a feed that feels like a stampede of musings they’d like to unsubscribe from.
Recently, I heard Justin McLeod of Hinge say: “We used to call them social networks; now we call them social media platforms.”
LinkedIn absolutely shifted from an initial model of connections to include followers; and over the years introduced and incorporated status updates, articles and newsletters, audio, stories; now it’s pushing video. I’d argue, LinkedIn still firmly has a foot in each category; but this evolution applies.
Now, on a network, our expectation is to connect with people we know, that our connections know, or who we know of and chose to follow. On a media platform, we’re either creators or consumers. As creators, we expect ROI in terms of reach. As consumers, we expect editorial standards and quality of content.
And when we are both the creator and the audience, unless for the former we are trained, skilled, talented, supported—or some combination of these—the needs of the creator and the consumer will be at odds.
One of the things that led to Clubhouse’s decline in popularity (which I wrote an extensive article on in August 2022) was the poor curation of “the hallway.” When you signed on you saw several things you didn’t like—from Covid conspiracy rooms, rooms of no interest to you; and while the initial user experience on the app was like thrifting somewhere incredible where you never knew what treasures you might uncover (celebrities or luminaries who were giving impromptu interviews with unprecedented access); the experience once the base grew exponentially and the mean content began to decline was like looking for food in a dumpster.
As people look to become creators on every platform as part of a strategy to monetize; what happens is that the platform itself becomes less interesting.
{Editor’s note: I had two paragraphs here on the specifics algorithmic reset I’d recommend, which I imagine you, dear reader, you would not find the most relevant, but I saved it in a note if this makes its way to LinkedIn HQ.]
So, let’s return to the question that started all of this—an influx and overwhelm of mid content—and what we can do about it.
And my answer is this: One of the tenants that I hold is that availability is not the qualifier. Which is to say the time to write and publish the post does not qualify it as thought leadership.
And this call reminded me—regardless what of what you see getting the most emojis because LinkedIn is pushing it out—my audience doesn't care about that. And if you’ve read this far, yours likely doesn’t either.
I always say thought leaders lead the conversation. Go out there and differentiate with true differentiators:
Expertise.
Voice.
Lived Experience.
Format.
Perspective.
Story.
Rapport.
Ethics.
Create what you want to consume. Consume what you aspire to create. Let’s start there.