LinkedIn Has Become the Most Fake Social network

“I am thrilled to announce”…

That sentence is now not so much of good news but rather a caution. Five minutes on LinkedIn and you will see offers that become promotions in the style of award speeches, failures turned into inspirational tales, and people that are somehow humbled by the accomplishments that they apparently want all the world to applaud them about. LinkedIn was created to be a professional networking site. Rather it has crept and crept to become something completely different a place where people act success.

Draw long enough and trends are apparent. The exaggerated gratitude. The stirring 47 times I was rejected but never gave up posts. The vulnerability that has been meticulously crafted and, nevertheless, is always followed by a personal triumph. They need not necessarily be untrue stories–but they are refined, sifted, and glittering generalities.

The shift is not random. Personal branding has taken centre stage in career development as expounded in Harvard Business Review which is forcing people to sell themselves as commodities. LinkedIn has been able to adopt this concept more than any other site. And it is then that the trouble starts. LinkedIn has become more a case of Instagram in a business suit.

We do not have ideal vacation, but ideal careers. We do not have influencers, but thought leaders. However, the point is the same; present only the best side of your life and wish it works.

The outcome is some bizarre form of pressure. We all should make it sound like we are successful, driven and continuously improving- when it is not always the case. Authenticity feels rehearsed. Struggles feel scripted.

Naturally, LinkedIn does not cease to work. Individuals get employment, establish relationships and career. However, now all that is covered with performance.

And that is perhaps the issue of the matter. LinkedIn is not merely turned into a fake, but it has become a professionally fake.

The next time you see someone who is humbled to proclaim his/her latest accomplishment, you might want to ask:

Do they have something that is real-or are they merely acting?