When did we stop listening? Or reading? Or reacting without thinking through the consequences?
Answer: likely when social media took over our lives.
The results of this social experiment are well documented in articles, books and movies but more recently we’ve been noticing the ramifications here on LinkedIn™.
We’ve witnessed several incidences recently of behaviour that would never have been tolerated before social media invaded our lives.
Here are some of the behaviours we’re witnessing that we frankly want no part of.
Publicly slagging off other LinkedIn™ members. If you have an issue with them, deal with it privately. Your professional brand is not worth risking and your criticism of others will likely backfire on you.
Straying from your lane can easily be misconstrued even when your intent is positive. People do not read the way they once did so will skim text and make assumptions about what you are saying based on your previous content. If you are calling out a misdeed, be aware that people may take umbrage, negatively affecting others along the way.
Accusing someone of unprofessionalism and wasting your time when they are just following the approved guidelines is … well, unprofessional. Ask questions first, make accusations later once you are certain you are in the right. You never know who knows who and might carry your missteps back to someone you do not want to think ill of you.
Writing negative comments on the post of a colleague who is celebrating a milestone only serves to look like sour grapes. Keep your opinions to yourself and let them have their moment in the sun. It costs you nothing and may make a big difference to them.
Using industrial scale engagement pods of fake profiles to game the algorithm and make you appear successful is not only underhand, it is an abuse of the platform you’re using to fabricate your supposed success.
For the longest time LinkedIn™ has been a relatively benign platform when compared to others such as X where all kinds of misbehaviour and trolling is not only tolerated but encouraged.
LinkedIn™ is a professional platform where we should show up as the best professional versions of ourselves. We need to think first and act second to avoid the pitfalls of unnecessarily upsetting our connections and followers.