LinkedIn is a social media platform focused on professional networking and career development. With over 800 million users worldwide, LinkedIn has become an important platform for establishing professional connections, networking, job searching, and sharing business content. However, over the years, the nature of the content shared on LinkedIn appears to have changed significantly.
Why do people share articles on LinkedIn?
There are several reasons why professionals share articles on LinkedIn:
- To demonstrate thought leadership and subject matter expertise
- To promote their business, products, or services
- To establish themselves as an authority in their industry
- To share insights, perspectives, and opinions on industry topics
- To engage with their professional network by providing value
- To drive traffic to their website or blog
- To build relationships and connect with potential clients
Essentially, sharing articles allows LinkedIn users to showcase knowledge, spread ideas, drive engagement, and ultimately advance their careers or business interests.
What types of articles used to be shared on LinkedIn?
In the early days of LinkedIn, the articles shared tended to be focused on substantive industry topics and professional expertise. Typical articles included:
- Industry trends, analysis, and insights
- Career and leadership advice
- Business strategy and best practices
- Workplace culture and management perspectives
- Entrepreneurship and small business tips
- Technology and software innovations
- Marketing and sales strategies
- Personal development and productivity hacks
The emphasis was on sharing high-quality educational and informational content to establish thought leadership credentials and provide genuine value to one’s connections.
How has the nature of shared articles changed?
Over time, the quality and nature of shared articles has declined significantly. Instead of the thoughtful, insightful articles that used to dominate LinkedIn feeds, most of the articles shared today can be described as:
- Clickbait headlines designed to attract attention and clicks
- Listicles like “10 Ways to Improve Productivity”
- Simple tips, tricks and hacks without substantive insight
- “Motivational” content with generic career advice
- Overly self-promotional ebooks, whitepapers, and gated content
- Aggressive pitches for services, products, or events
- Repackaged and recycled content
There has been a noticeable shift towards maximizing clicks, views, and engagement through attention-grabbing headlines and linkbait-style articles. While this content may generate high metrics, it generally lacks depth and originality.
Why did this shift occur?
Here are some of the key factors that contributed to the decline in article quality on LinkedIn:
- The algorithm favors engagement over quality – Clicks, comments, and shares are prioritized over thoughtful discourse.
- Increasing number of self-promoters – More users focused on driving traffic vs. establishing expertise.
- Rise of “thought leadership” keyword targeting – Optimizing for keywords over providing value.
- Young professionals joining the platform – Less experience creating substantive professional material.
- Adoption of clickbait news headlines – Proven to garner high engagement and attention.
- Demand for more easily digestible content – Readers drawn to quick tips and takeaways.
- Pressure for high posting frequency – Quantity over quality approach.
Essentially, changing user incentives and behavior coupled with the engagement-focused algorithm has led to the proliferation of attention-seeking headlines and shallow articles.
What are the negative impacts?
While clickbait articles may achieve high engagement, there are several downsides to the lower quality content dominating LinkedIn feeds:
- Diminished trust and thought leadership – Users seems less credible sharing simplistic listicles.
- Poorer user experience – Time wasted on articles lacking depth or original insight.
- Damage to personal brand – Lower quality reflections on your expertise.
- Reduced professional discourse – Less meaningful conversations and debates.
- Audience fatigue – Readers tired of repetitive, recycled advice.
- Difficulty differentiating – Experts struggle standing out from self-promoters.
The lack of thoughtful expertise being shared fails to nurture professional development and intellectual exchange. This could degrade the value of the LinkedIn platform over time.
How can we improve the quality of shared articles?
Here are some suggestions to help elevate the quality of articles shared on LinkedIn:
- Focus on sharing truly unique, original insights and analysis – Provide value beyond what can be found elsewhere.
- Prioritize substance over headlines – Avoid clickbait and instead optimize for delivering value.
- Showcase genuine expertise – Share well-researched, thoughtful perspectives on your industry.
- Provide actionable takeaways – Give clear guidance readers can apply in their work.
- Adopt an educational mindset – Look to teach rather than self-promote.
- Curate content carefully – Be selective and only share high quality articles.
- Comment thoughtfully – Move discussions forward through meaningful engagement.
- Monitor engagement thoughtfully – Favor followers who engage thoughtfully over just anyone.
Collectively, we should resist the temptation of shallow articles even if they deliver high metrics. The true value of LinkedIn is realized when we take the time to share content and have discussions that enrich our professional community.
Year | Number of LinkedIn Users | Top Content Themes |
---|---|---|
2005 | 1 million | Career advice, business insights, industry trends |
2010 | 90 million | Leadership, technology, marketing strategy |
2015 | 400 million | Listicles, clickbait, motivational |
2020 | 690 million | Self-promotion, recycled tips, simplistic how-tos |
This table shows how as LinkedIn’s userbase grew rapidly after 2010, the predominant themes and quality of shared articles shifted markedly towards more clickbaity, simplistic content.
Conclusion
The declining quality of articles shared on LinkedIn is apparent. While clickbait headlines and simplistic listicles may drive high engagement, they fail to provide the thoughtful professional discourse that makes LinkedIn valuable. By focusing on sharing unique insights, expertise, and thoughtful commentary, we can help restore more substantive, educational content. Rather than optimize solely for metrics, we should aim to enrich our professional community with writing and conversations that demonstrate true thought leadership.