Is it me, or is Linkedin most dreadfully dry? It seems so static. So lifeless. So unfun. Networking on Linked in is like walking in slow motion through a silent movie. No chat, no photos, no energy.
Sure, it is supposed to be the professional place to connect. In fact, I have more connections on Linkedin than I do on Facebook. Admittedly I’ve been on Linkedin longer. Since practically its inception. But it seems to slump through Webland like a Cro-Magnon misanthrope, hunched over and grumpy. After years of telling us to connect only to people we trust, we have not listened! It is us who can’t be trusted!
As if to rebuke us for our nefarious connecting, Linkedin has treated us to a new, really exiting feature: slide share. Just what corporate pros need, MORE PowerPoints!
Over the years I have found it useful for two things: advertising for job openings at my firm. I’d get quality responses in manageable numbers. It was always better than Monster for that. And the second thing…um…I forgot.
Funny as much as I find Facebook terribly kloogy and unintuitive and utterly shallow most of the time, I do find it fun sometimes. Especially when I see an entertaining video or someone posts something of interest to me. It isn’t consistently fun, but it is fun enough, like a slot machine in Vegas, it gives you a winner just enough times. So I actually look forward to checking into Facebook to see if its a three cherry day.
But Linkedin is like taking a walk in a fossil field. Sure I get very juiced about all the great and wonderful business and social potential of the web, and so do many people on Linkedin, but Linkedin itself doesn’t pick up on that vibe and transmit it. It provides a platform for people to talk AT each other rather than WITH each other. And that is not very social, is it?
I have tried and reached out to others over the years on Linkedin, but often get stuck in “yellow” light purgatory. Then there are their artificial limits…”sorry, no more group joining for today”, “sorry you invited more friends than truly trust you” (or actually remember you – look I am not that forgettable, but we all have our memory limits! We hardly need Linkedin to punish us for it!)
Speaking of memory, I just remembered the second thing. Linkedin is helpful keeping track of people when they move from job to job, provided they make they remember to update themselves.
Now if only Linkedin would blow the dust off itself and give us something to stand erect and cheer about!
