October 1, 2015: LinkedIn provides a generally less annoying user experience than Facebook does. On LinkedIn, folks usually behave in a more restrained way (in my day, we’d have called LinkedIn an “uptight” social network but that’s not always a bad thing). Furthermore, LinkedIn’s feeds aren’t marred by distracting auto-playing videos, the conversation is generally more focused (on making a buck), and the tone is usually more civil (albeit more boring) than on FB.
Still, there are some things that people do on LinkedIn that are galling, outrageous, annoying, and just plain dumb. Here are some of my pet peeves:
1. Wafer-Thin Ego-Driven Pulse Posts
GIF from giphy.com
Long, drawn-out meditative musings with a lot of “I’s,” “me’s” and “mines” in them don’t belong on LinkedIn. In fact, they don’t belong anywhere. LinkedIn needs to do what Google has done with web content: warn its creators that they’ll get whacked with a penalty if they post content that lacks any meaning beyond “I’m me and I’m proud of it (so hire me already).” If you’re going to publish something on Pulse, talk about someone other than yourself.
2. Abandoned Business Pages
GIF from giphy.com
Unless you’re actually selling tumbleweeds, don’t let them blow onto your business page. Keep things lively and fresh. Yes, we know it’s a lot of work and you haven’t figured out whether there’s any ROI. But hey — you’re committed to the platform, aren’t you? (If you’re not, what the heck is your business doing here?)
3. Badly-chosen profile icons
GIF from giphy.com
Just because Visual Branding isn’t taught in high school doesn’t mean that you have an excuse for choosing a profile icon that brands you as a lug. There are at least 20 different kinds of LinkedIn icon portrait types to steer clear of. Pay attention to your profile icon — other people are, and that’s never good news unless you’ve chosen wisely.
4. Motivational Posters
GIF via tumblr.
Posting a motivational poster forever brands you as a Thought Follower. Which wouldn’t be so bad if the thoughts that you are following (and reposting) had anything to say beyond “be positive, be brave, be great, etc.”). Yes, yes, we know how hard it is to keep forging ahead in a world that doesn’t care. What we don’t need is a dose of hackneyed wisdom poured over our heads each morning like so much molasses.
5. UPDATES USING ALL CAPS IN THE HEADLINE
GIF via giphy.com
Okay. Breathe. LINKEDIN ISN’T THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM. Calm down and lay off the Caps-Lock key — people might stop avoiding you.
Do you have a social media pet peeve that should be added to one of our lists? Tweet it to @Diditmarketing!
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