About a month ago, I talked here about LinkedIn opening up its publishing platform to the outside world. And before you know it, the platform has people flocking to it in hordes, setting up accounts, trying to expand their connection network in an attempt to start getting their content out there, and get it seen.
With everyone's activity going up on LinkedIn of course - there are a ton of "habits" that have spewn over from other social networks onto LinkedIn, which have been ruffling more than a couple of feathers.
LinkedIn is a professional networking website. It always has been, and it always will be. It won't be a place for you to share pictures of a night out with friends, neither is it place for games to be played and BuzzFeed articles posted.
I've been an active LinkedIn user for about 5 years now - I've been sharing updates, talking with people, making connections, setting up meetings and following the career trajectory of my associates for a while.
With the influx of the "new" crowd in the last year, especially those that have suddenly realized that LinkedIn is an opportunity for them to network and thrive - they've brought with them some oddiites that are throwing the network a little out of balance and are causing havoc in my newsfeed.
I'm losing respect for these people, as are many others.
Here's what you should not be doing on LinkedIn ladies and gentlemen.
1. Rapid Post on LinkedIn - Spamming the Newsfeed
In case you haven't noticed, it was the same person (I've blurred out the name and photo of course) that posted these articles - all within a minute of each other. I scrolled through my feed and this is all I saw. Of course, the first thing I did after this happened was hid this person's updates from my feed.
I'm sorry, but LinkedIn is not the place for you to broadcast links to articles that you've found interesting one after the other - and the kicker here for me was that there were no "thoughts" or this person's take on the article put up with the article either. Spam - that's what I call it.
2. Participate in Spammy Comment-Bait Threads [Or Post Them!]
Anyone able to solve the above "equation" is not a genius. Let's get that out of the way. Second, having something on LinkedIn which has "if u r" in the text is worrisome. And if you're participating or endorsing this content - that's even worse.
Your peer will lose respect for you if you participate in such scammy posts that are basically baiting for engagement which really amount to nothing.
Here's another example of the same:
3. Participate in Flame Wars
This is a tricky one. LinkedIn is full of discussion, and often you'll find someone with an opinion that doesn't quite align with yours the way you'd like it to. While it's hard to "hold back" and express your opinion - remember to do so in a manner that is professional.
All your contacts will be able to see your activity on posts. If you comment, like or share a piece of content - there's a good chance it'll pop up on the feed of someone else - letting them know what your comment was, or what piece of content you're endorsing. If your words aren't kind and if you don't have a professional demeanor while doing so - you could end up in a sticky situation.
4. Auto-Post from other Social Channels to LinkedIn
This is one of my pet peeves. LinkedIn isn't Twitter - and you'd do well to remember that. I've seen users actually sync Twitter with LinkedIn, and all their RT's and mentions and responses to tweets show up on LinkedIn. That's probably the most ridiculous thing that you can do. It causes spam and clutter in the newsfeed - and if anyone wanted to see your Twitter content, they'd go to your Twitter profile or follow you to do so. Please don't let it stray onto LinkedIn.
5. Auto-Post from an RSS / Website Feed
I love Social Media Today. I go through a lot of content on here. Does that mean that I set up a tool that auto-shares every single post that's put up on SocialMediaToday? No. Absolutely not. Can you imagine the amount of articles that my connections would have to deal with?
I understand (as does everyone else) that you'd like to share content from your own blog or your own website or even websites that you follow and would like to endorse, but if you'd like to share the article with your connections and if you're expecting them to take out time and read it - why don't you take out time to craft your own little introduction to the post - letting your connections know why you're endorsing the article and why you'd like them to read it - and also add on what you liked in the article itself?
LinkedIn is tricky business. Everything you do on LinkedIn will always be taken in a "professional" taste. Much unlike Facebook and Twitter where you can pass things off as a personal opinion or a personal touch, which is why everyone on Twitter tends to put the "opinions expressed are my own" - to keep their companies out of trouble.
You can't do that on LinkedIn. The first thing you're associated with on LinkedIn is your company. Your job. Your title. Your role. Your skills and your profession.
LinkedIn isn't a publishing tool or a platform for you to broadcast messages. It's a networking tool, for you to showcase yourself as a professional and make people want to work with you and value your opinion and thoughts. It's not going to happen if you do the above!