How Has LinkedIn Become the New Facebook
LinkedIn was once known to be the place to find a job and make connections. It was the first social media platform of its kind at the time of its creation. Unlike MySpace and Facebook. LinkedIn did not cater to teenagers and young adults but rather highly-driven professionals.
At the time, they aimed to target individuals looking to showcase their professional development and find a new way to connect with people from their industry. One of the founders of LinkedIn claimed that “we’re here to build a business, not to create something cool. MySpace and Facebook have done that really well.” However, you only have to scroll down on LinkedIn for a few minutes to notice that LinkedIn has indeed become exactly like Facebook.
Table of Content:
The New Era of LinkedIn.
The New Content on LinkedIn.
The Conflicting Reactions.
The Power of Socializing.
The New Era of LinkedIn:
With Millennials and Gen Zers joining the workforce, and LinkedIn as a result, the platform shifted to accommodate the newcomers. The two generations have grown up sharing every facade of their lives across platforms and LinkedIn has become the latest platform to express themselves.
The corporate-washed content that was shared on the platform was replaced with long posts expressing the frustrations that come with work and the occasional selfie.
In the past, LinkedIn was filled with quotes, articles, and job listings but that all seems to change. The corporate-washed content that was shared on the platform was replaced with long posts expressing the frustrations that come with work and the occasional selfie. The strictly professional atmosphere that dominated the platform was toned down in favor of a more personal and authentic approach.
Covid also played a huge role in the new era of LinkedIn. The pandemic changed the way we worked and the way we viewed work and this change was crystal clear on the platform. Working from home forced us to let go of the restraints of our uptight corporate persona and become more vulnerable. Sharing a small workplace with your partner while your kids and pets interrupt your Zoom call with your boss has that effect on people.
The New Content on LinkedIn.
This new approach by users has naturally produced a new form of content on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is still fully focused on finding jobs and providing an online space for professionals to mingle, although users are now taking more of a personal approach.
We started to notice this shift when Zoom fails posts started to pop up on our feed. I mean if my cat wanted to jump on my lap to lend her two cents to the conversation on Zoom, you better bet I will go straight to my Nuelink account and share the clip across all my platforms, LinkedIn included. And from the look of things, many people agree with my perspective because LinkedIn was filled with posts of cute kids and pets interrupting their parents’ Zoom calls.
Nowadays, users also stopped trying to paint a perfect image of their industry and job and prefer a more vulnerable approach in their LinkedIn feed. Venting to your connections on LinkedIn is part of the platform culture now. You share a lot of experiences with your connections on LinkedIn because more likely than not they are also facing the same struggles. It can be quite therapeutic to feel like you are not the only one struggling to juggle between your work and personal life.
The Conflicting Reactions.
LinkedIn users, individuals to be exact, are at the forefront of this change. People are happy with this change of content because they are mostly responsible for the change. To a degree, LinkedIn is just like Facebook because users have turned it into one. They want to be more open about their experiences and be vulnerable with their connections. This new approach has also proven to be very beneficial for freelancers and smaller companies.
However, not everyone is happy with the new changes that are happening on the platform. LinkedIn has long been that platform that corporations and companies dominated. In the past, the platform had a strictly professional feel which by nature is the domain of corporations. But, the new LinkedIn has thrown many companies' marketing strategies on the platform for a loop. Companies are not known for being vulnerable and authentic and this is clear with the engagement or lack thereof, they generate on LinkedIn.
The Power of Socializing.
As we mentioned, taking a personal approach on LinkedIn has proven to be a successful strategy for individuals, smaller businesses, and family-owned businesses. The reason for this is simply because authenticity sells online. People love to make connections with businesses they can relate to and are happier to support them with engagement and money.
Customers respond better to accounts that share real and authentic content. This can be a challenging approach to follow especially with those whose brand image might not reflect the new content. It is essential, however, to adapt and change to suit the needs of customers.
This new personal approach on LinkedIn is not app-driven but rather user-driven. The only reason your LinkedIn feed looks a lot like your Facebook feed is because that is what people are creating and what they are engaging with. At the end of the day, as a business owner and entrepreneur, your priority is to please your clients and they have spoken. People want LinkedIn to be the new Facebook.