Why You Shouldn’t Treat LinkedIn Like a Typical Social Media Site
LinkedIn is an excellent site for making professional connections and expanding your network. While it is considered a type of social media, it is not exactly like other social sites. Let’s take a look at what makes it different and why you shouldn’t treat it like any other social media platform.
1. It’s Not Intended for Friendships
LinkedIn is designed with the intention of helping people make connections in their industry. While many connections made on LinkedIn can turn into in-person collaborations, the site is not made for fostering friendships.
If you want to chat with connections, you can, via posts and LinkedIn Mail, but the content of the site pushes towards professional rather than personal interactions.
2. It’s Not for Private Content
If you post private stuff on LinkedIn, you should think about whether you want it seen by your professional network. It’s likely that your connections on LinkedIn are people you’ve met or collaborated with in your industry.
It’s also likely that your connections are companies and people with whom you wish to collaborate in the future (especially if you are a job-seeker). Posting some personal stuff on LinkedIn is okay, but posting very personal or private information may not be in your favor if you don’t want to give everyone in your professional network insights about your life.
3. LinkedIn Is Not a Dating Site
While plenty of people report being approached on LinkedIn by strangers wanting romantic connections, it’s not a site that is designed for that. In fact, with so manyLinkedIn scamsout there, andfake LinkedIn profileslurking about, it’s no wonder that people are annoyed when a romantic request surfaces in their LinkedIn mail. LinkedIn is not a dating site, and it shouldn’t be treated as such.
4. It’s for Career-Related Topics
Most people use LinkedIn as a professional platform. It is common practice to post career-related advice, jobs, business news, motivational content, and even success stories. Most people come to the platform with that expectation.
LinkedIn’s purpose is to connect industry professionals and the primary focus is work. It’s not exactly a platform where you can chat, like you would on WhatsApp for example.
The site is designed to recommend you contacts who are connected with your contacts, to suggest relevant information about the industry you’re a part of, and to recommend corporate connections. There are also ways tojoin groups and communities on LinedInto expand your professional network.
5. It Encourages Discussions, Not Gossip
People mainly use LinkedIn to discuss professional and personal matters relating to work. From time to time, you might catch some gossip on LinkedIn, however, it’s probably not the type of gossip you would catch on other social media sites. For example, a connection may speak up about burnout, but it’s likely related to an exhausting job they’ve just left.
6. It’s OK to Check Someone’s Profile
On LinkedIn most people make their profiles public. On social media, due to privacy reasons, a lot of people are choosing to make their profiles private.
On most social networks, looking at people’s profiles is often considered snooping. For example, if you’relurking on your ex’s social profiles, just to see what they’re doing, the behavior is looked down on. On LinkedIn however, you can look at people’s profiles, especially if you want to make a connection.
You might want to see what you have in common, or if you went to the same school, or if that person works in a specific company. It’s considered OK to look at people’s profiles on LinkedIn, and most people (depending on their privacy settings) are aware when someone looks them up.
7. It’s Only For Specific Types of Recommendations
On most social media sites, you get a lot of recommendations. On Instagram, you might get product suggestions, and on Facebook, you might get marketplace recommendations. Your contacts on social sites are also likely posting travel photos of themselves and boasting about their travels.
On LinkedIn, you shouldn’t really post pictures of what you had for lunch and recommend a restaurant. Nor is it common practice to post vacation photos. LinkedIn is a platform where you may help your network by posting job recommendations.
It is also considered helpful when you endorse people for their skills. Endorsing someone means that you are recommending them to prospective employers or collaborators. It’s a work-related review of what it’s like to collaborate with that person.
8. Its Groups, Communities, and Events Are Industry-Specific
If you’re looking for groups and communities on other social platforms, you’ll encounter a lot of them. There are groups for just about anything; from book clubs, to chocolate lovers, you get a lot of opportunities to connect with like-minded people.
Most of LinkedIn’s communities are either industry-specific or they’re in some way related to work. There are also a lot of groups where you can connect with former school classmates or people you studied with at college.
LinkedIn also advertises events. Unlike on other social platforms where you may see things going on in your area, such as food festivals and music concerts, LinkedIn’s events are centered around businesses and industries. You might get invites for conferences, workshops, job-seeker fairs, and skill-share events.
9. It Has a Network Size Limit
While you would think that a platform that allows you to have thousands of connections is a typical social platform, it is not so. While it encourages you to connect with people from all over the world, it does advise you to choose your network carefully. The site has a limit of 30,000 first-degree connections.
Its help page states that you should connect with people you trust and know personally, but you could follow anyone who posts content that is interesting to you.
Meanwhile, a site like Twitter only puts limits on your follower-to-following ratio. If a million people follow you, you can technically follow back a million people too.
LinkedIn Is Not a Typical Social Platform
If you came to LinkedIn expecting to find another social networking site, it’s time to find another platform. The site encourages professional networking and its primary purpose is to provide a platform for work-related matters. LinkedIn is not designed for socializing in a private way, nor does it encourage people to overshare about their daily lives.
LinkedIn’s Newsletter is a great way to build your professional network and stay in touch with your connections. Here’s how to use it.
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