LinkedIn, the professional networking platform with 900 million users, is undergoing a transformation that has divided its community. Once a staid billboard for career updates and business launches, the site now features increasingly personal and emotional posts from users sharing childhood stories, vulnerabilities, and family moments.
Dan Kelsall, co-founder of Manchester marketing firm Offended, is known for his profanity-laced and humorous posts. He attributes the shift to boredom with corporate marketing. 'Consumers are less and less trusting of big brands. People are tired of boring marketing,' he said. Kelsall, who has 66,000 followers, believes the key is to 'speak like your audience and be relatable.'
Parry Headrick, founder of Massachusetts PR firm Crackle, credits LinkedIn with building his entire client base. He shares details of his impoverished childhood and his children's lives, but not everyone approves. One user commented: 'Nice story. It doesn't belong on LinkedIn.' Headrick disagrees, arguing that 'engagement is about telling a compelling story' and that 'the personal element engenders trust.'
Azadeh Williams of AZK Media in Sydney shares updates about her six-year-old daughter. She says the pandemic, which brought Zoom meetings into homes, changed the platform. 'Before Covid families didn't exist for your work colleagues. Now they've seen the families and it makes us more interesting.' She believes users must be 'crude, authentic self to attract your audience.'
Douglas Rode, who runs recruitment giant Page Group in the UK and Ireland, notes that 'even five years ago people didn't open up so much. Now there's greater awareness of people's vulnerabilities such as mental health.' However, he advises job seekers to strike a balance: 'You want to sound human, not generic or automated.'
Tom Skinner of London agency Go Up is more critical, fearing the trend reflects celebrity culture and 'a society that celebrates people' for oversharing. The debate continues as LinkedIn evolves from a digital CV repository into a space for personal storytelling.
