On 8th July, I published an article here on why I left LinkedIn.
Now that I am back on the platform, you may be wondering to ask “what brought you back Leos?”
There were not many things I missed quite frankly:
- The Industry Gossip. Who moved where, who joins or leaves which company
- The never-ending “5 habits of most successful people posts”
- The “please don’t post this or that, LinkedIn is not Facebook”
- The “you should only connect with people you really know” mantra repeated all over again and again
- The new chat feature that I don’t remember if it was there before I took a break from LinkedIn that allows me to chat with my favorite buddies in my network
On the serious note, the one reason for me to LinkedIn was the possibility to start a conversation going with literally anyone, anywhere (assuming that person or organization is on LinkedIn).
Stumbled upon someone doing something interesting in an area of your interested? Why not to follow up?
In need for advice, mentor or industry insight? Why not to ask?
My first ten years on LinkedIn I limited myself in not able to unlock full potential of social networking.
When I first registered on the site, the social media were merely non-existent.
The first generation of LinkedIn users tended to be quite conservative. The site was merely seen as a showcase of your CV, a job-site on steroids.
In my personal view, that very first generation of LinkedIn users was put off when community started to use the platform to achieve other goals, such as:
- Connect with as much people as possible to expand sphere of influence
- Use LinkedIn as a sales & marketing platform
- Search for gigs & projects
- Publish anything (including jokes, cats, dogs, XX-reasons to do this or that, quotes)
- In general do anything on the site actively, as it was largely seen as “dead platform” where any activity is punished.
My personal goal on LinkedIn the second time round? Socialize.
My previous gigs forced me to get quiet, and it’s time to change that again!
