LinkedIn: Why the network is attracting young people – 10/08/2023 – Ronaldo Lemos

I looked to see if I had already written anything about LinkedIn. To my own surprise, the conclusion was: nothing. In years of technology analysis, not a word about “the world’s largest professional network”, which turns 20 in 2023. One explanation is that while other platforms are full of constant dystopias, LinkedIn is a kind of cousin that is always on the move. thread and ironing. He is the ignored giant, whose slogan “I would like to add you to my professional network” sets the tone.

In general, there are no complaints that it is a threat to democracy, or that it has been used to interfere in elections, increase political polarization, or other issues that often appear when talking about social networks.

It is in this context that something incredible is happening: LinkedIn has gained importance, grown and attracted, amazingly, more and more young people. While platforms like Tiktok focus on outlandish content, it is LinkedIn’s apparent calm that has served as an attraction.

In a recent article in The New York Magazine, journalist Anya Kamenetz reports that LinkedIn reported 41% growth in content posted between September 2021 and September 2023. The company also confirms that Generation Z is “one of the groups that is growing faster” on the platform. The journalist interviewed some of these young users. One of them, who has been on the site since he was 14, stated that “it is a place of connection and celebration, with a positive and encouraging environment.” Now at 16, he has just found a paid summer internship through the platform.

LinkedIn’s relative sensibility may have an explanation: its direct connection to harsh reality. As LinkedIn is a professional network, it affects something profound: the possibility of securing a livelihood to survive. While on other social networks someone may feel free to talk about atrocities, doing so on Linkedin can have permanent consequences. It can close the doors of hope to improve your life. As most people need to work to survive, this is a stabilizing factor.

In this sense, Linkedin is the social network most anchored in what we call “reality”. Therefore, it is not so surprising that it is attracting young people, thirsty for something stable, tangible or sane in a world that is increasingly fragmented and disconnected from an objective reality.

For those who attend, there really is a more respectful atmosphere in the air. Debates exist, but they are more contained. The rarest gratuitous attacks. The number of anonymous or fake accounts is also smaller. One of the platform’s problems is spam, unsolicited messages that occur frequently. But even that is a luxury compared to other issues. And there are even those who use LinkedIn to flirt, using the brio of their professional CV as an anchor, another reason not to act like a lunatic on the platform.

Although I have never written about Linkedin until now, every week I post my article from Sheet there and overall I get constructive feedback. Excuse me while I go add someone to my professional network.

It’s over LinkedIn just as a starched social network

Already Linkedin growing in content and attracting young people

It’s coming In a volatile world, young people being attracted to stability and sanity

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