The funny meta-thing about his post, is that the content he feels adds 0 value, is in fact his own post. He is literally making a post about a tool he doesn't use. It's the equivalent of a person making a blog post about a tv series they don't watch but have seen the trailer for; no actual value to add to the discussion about the topic.
This is valueless content.
Social media is a waste of time, the news feed is enraging, people put on a fake perfect persona, FOMO, insecurity, inauthentic connection, signaling, controversy, drama, dopamine, addiction. Unplug yourself, use analog tools, read books, have real life fun and deep bonding with your partner, friends and family etc.
It's all true, but we've heard it countless times and read it in the lifestyle columns of magazines all the time.
Indeed I think this is the next generation of self promotion and branding. You are above the plebs and the uniform little boxes that people package themselves into. You cannot be represented as a row in a database table, you are unique and special, you think outside the box, you go your own way, know what you want, think critically and independently and can refuse lowly temptations. You are not under the powers of the corporate machine. You delete your social media.
I'm unsure if this is meant to be sarcasm. Do you actually believe the next generation of self-promotion will be offline, in-person as kind of a reform movement or backlash? The optimistic side of frequently likes to entertain this idea but my cynical side thinks the dopamine addiction is only getting stronger. That cynical view is mostly informed by observations of the number of folks I see on sidewalks staring and scrolling at their phones as they walk.
/s
LinkedIn may be an online professional network, but that doesn't mean there are no other means of "transportation". I take care of my network by meeting my professional peers a lot. I talk with the same recruiters normally, both in a hiring capacity and a candidate capacity. I know them, they know me. I stay in touch with my old colleagues, some who are now CEOs, others who are programmers, and even more who are still where I met them - some of them I even consider friends - most of the valuable connections.
In the technology community, you can go to many organized events. I participate in both React, .NET, and cloud meetups, and now I co-host some as well.
Your network is so much more than LinkedIn, it's a relationship with actual human beings, which is where LinkedIn often falls short. It does, however, work great as a contact book of "oh shit, I wonder where he is now and how can I get in touch with him" - and then you go meet them. In person. All jobs of significance I have been considered for, and most likely most of what I will be considered for in the future is based on my actual relations with people. "Talk to this guy, I worked with him on X" - it's the same way I hire great people. LinkedIn is a showcase for your resume, what you've done, who you are affiliated with, and a professional point of contact, but it's by no means "your professional network".
In Germany there's XING which I think has a similar purpose (professional relationships, both for contractors as well as employees) and is relatively popular AFAICT. I'm not on XING, but what I heard about it from colleagues is that when IT contracting was at its height not so long ago they got several "cold" contacts per week from desperate people (MBA types, mostly) that have neither customers nor projects nor professional experience. Don't know if this is representative of XING; it might actually be not half-bad. But then the way the consulting business works here is that customers rarely approach freelancers directly and use agencies instead.
I disagree. It poses several questions about the value of LinkedIn. And it spurred a discussion. If anything your comment really adds nothing here.. (Maybe some discussion, but a useful one?)
I think it was a waste of time.
I also started to think in this direction more the last few years: If we as a socity would be better of creating less but better, we would not have facebook or linkedin feets full of waste. We would have perhaps 10 hn articles per day, 10 world news, 1-2 local news and thats it.
I would have the rest of my time 'free' of the burden of trying to make sure i'm not missing something.
Every idiot thinks something created and shared is worth while while i'm often enough think 'oh now one would care for something like this' or 'a few people might wanna read it but wouldn't act on it anyway'.
I also started to comment less. It costs time, i don't have the feeling that a lot of peole read comments and honestly, i had plenty of discussions which just stoped and there was never ever any feedback (besides 'likes' like wtf.) on 'was that helpful'.
Did i add value to our society or was it purely for entertainment?
Let me know if you want to have a phone call some time about considering going car-free.
Later I started https://bikes-as-transportation.com/
(spoiler: I also later got married to a woman with a car, so I end having easy access to a car anyway.)
These days our city is full of carsharing cars so should I ever need a car to carry something heavier, I only need to walk a few blocks to find the nearest car that I can borrow. Costs about a half of what I'd pay for a taxi, so it's not cheap, but still cheaper than owning a car and not using it.
This is an unpopular and very interesting situation, could you write a blog post about it ?
The fact someone is choosing not to use LinkedIn means they're not getting value from it. Why is that? How could LinkedIn fix that? Are they using an alternative?
If you're more curious about the reasons behind events you can learn a lot.
IMO a more accurate analogy would be a person dropping a tv series in between, in which case they can indeed add value to the discussion - why they dropped the series etc.
Likewise, Linkedin isn't needed the majority of the time, until you need it - i.e. you're faced with having to find a new job in an industry where the right referral can translate directly into a job with higher income.
That's not valueless.
Your comment holds some truth, but I found the article interesting.
