I’ve been asking myself that question a lot recently.  As a longtime user and fan, I want to believe LinkedIn sees itself as a platform designed to help professionals expand their networks, learn new skills, discover job opportunities and grow their careers. 

But lately it seems LinkedIn’s primary purpose is to get us to spend more time on LinkedIn. 

I’ve been posting on LinkedIn regularly for many years.  It used to be almost guaranteed that most, if not all, of my followers would see my posts, and I would see theirs.  Those days are long gone (unless it’s a job status update).  Now there is an algorithm to game. 

My feed increasingly is deluged with well-intentioned but often dizzying advice from experts about how to “work the LinkedIn algorithm” and break through.  We are told to:

Post daily. 

Comment on and like at least ten posts every day. 

Spend thirty minutes “warming up” the algorithm before posting. 

Amass as many followers as possible.

Create more videos.  Write clever hooks.  Use emojis and simple language. 

Sounds like a full-time job to me.  Who has that kind of time?

Oh, and here’s the most irritating tip: whatever you do, don’t include any external links in your posts.

One of the best ways to build connections and discover new opportunities is by sharing ideas and work.  In my case, LinkedIn was a great source of traffic to my personal blog.  No more.  In February, I shared my blog as an article on LinkedIn three times and saw good results.  The one time I did not write it on LinkedIn but instead posted a link to my personal website, it was seen by less than 1% of my followers. 

Seriously?  Look, I understand LinkedIn is running a business and time spent and engagement on the platform are the currency.  But I find the virtual boycott of external links particularly disappointing.  It’s not always possible or convenient to share work or ideas within the confines of the LinkedIn platform. 

I realize that some may dismiss this as a frustrated rant of someone looking for a scapegoat for the lack of interest in their content.  Believe that if you wish, but for the record I’m under no illusions about the relative appeal of my work.  I don’t expect every blog post or video to hit it out of the park nor am I on a mission to amass followers or become a creator or influencer.  There are plenty of other people who do that much better than me.  All I want to do is share and engage with my network. 

Having said all this, LinkedIn remains for me a powerful tool to make work better.  However, the folks at LinkedIn would do well to remember that forcing users to invest hours scrolling, liking, and commenting just so they can communicate with their networks isn’t adding value to our work, it’s just needlessly creating more of it.  If it continues to pursue this strategy, the only thing LinkedIn will accomplish will be opening the door for a competitor.