BuzzFix: Why LinkedIn Has Become a Parody Account of LinkedIn

It’s game-over for the LinkedIn brand of motivation, people on the Internet have declared. The word on the streets is that all’s not right with the world and the LinkedIn scheme of waxing poetic about what it means to be a corporate worker seems to be kinda sorta falling through. Recently, LinkedIn’s official Twitter account tried its hand at some edgy humour, tweeting, “little miss gives up on a job application if it requires a cover letter". Twitter users collectively took the opportunity to point out the double standards in LinkedIn advertisers’ unwillingness to disclose salary information.

People on LinkedIn have not only taken it upon themselves to be the torchbearers of hustle culture, but in the process, also decided to be ludicrously fake about it- so much so that it’s now a popular meme template. For example, recently a LinkedIn user posted a parody about an employer offering double salary to a job-seeker just so a LinkedIn post could be made about it.

LinkedIn, where it’s supposed to be a significant medium to connect employers and job-seekers, has been increasingly going the Facebook way. In fact, one could argue that it’s currently heading in the WhatsApp-forwards direction. At its core, all of it involves taking an event and sensationalizing it to the extent that it becomes divorced from its reality. For instance, consider the time a LinkedIn user quite simply got the middle finger from comedian Tanmay Bhat for being intrusive and attempted to milk it this way:

There’s a whole Twitter account dedicated to sharing absurd LinkedIn posts. Word of caution: it’s generally advisable to find some time to eat every day.

Some LinkedIn posts are so bent on motivating you that they are willing to lie blatantly.

Here’s LinkedIn taking “pics or it didn’t happen" to a whole other level:

Some LinkedIn users, fortunately or unfortunately, don’t care all that much about motivating you. They want to post very personal life events that have nothing to do with their professional life and in the process, throw in a brand shoutout or two. Consider the example of this guy and his “Amazonian wife".

LinkedIn is also one of the big proponents of the up-and-coming religion called “worship your billionaires". If you happen to be a billionaire, even the act of eating Parle-G could become motivational, thanks to LinkedIn. You’re not supposed to question wealth inequity in the country, but if a billionaire somehow does something that’s actually within the means of at least some citizens, you must prostrate before them. We don’t make the rules.

Even if LinkedIn users weren’t trying to push out these fake narratives, the fact is that outlandish success stories- legitimate ones included- are outliers and not the rule. Professional success or lack thereof does not solely hinge on one’s personal abilities or perseverance. It would seem that LinkedIn users are selling the American Dream, but now people are refusing to buy it.

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