Why LinkedIn is Failing Us

I recently noticed a lot more Facebook'y content in my LinkedIn feed. I’m assuming this is a new "feature" but I would love the ability to disable it in settings. It appears I am now seeing 3 degrees of connection engagement in my feed.

One of my 1st degree connections likes or comments on something from someone they are connected to, who likes or comments on something from someone they are connected to. You can call it three degrees of connection or separation. Whatever you call it, it’s noise to me.

This isn't even on a level of discoverable content. This is 100% noise and 0% signal to me. If someone is in my LinkedIn network, 95% of them are people I have worked with, met at a conference, or otherwise engaged with directly in the real world. In a way, I use my physical connections with people to limit what I was seeing.

LinkedIn seems to have recently changed the rules a little. Though they have added a feed preference that allows you to filter out political content from your feed, they don’t offer a similar option to filter out 2nd and 3rd degree content.

Filter out political content in your feed LinkedIn feed preference

I see LinkedIn as a platform to store a digital CV and be a platform that allows me to connect with people I know in a business context. I don’t want to talk politics, religion, or even cats. If it’s on Facebook or TikTok, I don’t want to see it.

If you Google “LinkedIn”, the resulting knowledge panel will state

LinkedIn is an American business- and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job seekers to post their CVs and employers to post jobs.

Instead of trying to just increase engagement, LinkedIn should try to increase quality engagement. Anything else is just noise.

Here is a link to the original post on LinkedIn.