In the not-so-distant past, approximately five years ago, LinkedIn functioned as a straightforward platform for job seekers, business owners and consultants to connect with potential employers, investors and recruiters. This dynamic underwent a significant transformation during the pandemic period, where the boundary between personal and professional lives became increasingly blurred.
As a result, today’s LinkedIn profile encompasses not just an individual’s professional triumphs, but also their personal struggles and human weaknesses. This trend, termed the ‘vulnerability turn’ by Professor Shani Orgad, a media and communications expert at the London School of Economics, is becoming prevalent.
A frequently observed narrative is the ‘snap’, wherein an individual’s professional stress reaches a tipping point. This is often depicted through images of the author in a vulnerable state, accompanied by uplifting texts encouraging openness and tenderness with oneself. An illustrative case would be a banker’s viral post about his life-altering moment post a cardiac event.
However, this quest for vulnerability on a public platform can sometimes end up being counterproductive. A glaring case was an instance where a CEO’s teary-eyed selfie post lay-off was met with accusations of vanity, despite his intention to depict vulnerability.
Such oversharing is symptomatic of the current corporate culture that advocates for the open discussion of personal struggles including mental health, familial issues and sexuality as a means of authenticity. Unsurprisingly, these narratives on LinkedIn commonly revolve around overcoming obstacles or tales of benevolence.
This overlap of personal and professional narratives online has ushered LinkedIn into a new, albeit strange era, muses comedian Michael Spicer. He observes, “Business-oriented individuals leverage their personal life events to orchestrate professional discussions. In essence, a marriage update could be repackaged as a lesson in entrepreneurial pursuits.”
Despite these radical changes, humour still remains a conspicuous absentee on the platform.
The LinkedIn platform, despite not intending to, gives birth to its own unintentional comedy. This amusing facet of the platform has been captured and appreciated in Twitter’s ‘State of LinkedIn’ and Reddit’s ‘Lunatics of LinkedIn’. An example includes a post where a woman is seen sitting on a toilet with a laptop in her lap, illustrating the relentless push one needs while starting a business.
However, LinkedIn’s intense work culture and shallow thought-leadership could make one cringe to death if such a thing was possible. The humour on the platform, minimal as it is, often mocks its own existence. One such satirical soul is stand-up comedian Ken Cheng, who pens down posts like, “Never fail. If you think you’re about to fail, simply don’t,” much to audiences’ delight who see it as a break from LinkedIn’s corporate image. Tom Boston, a British marketer, also stands as a one-off case, with his short video skits based on his profession, which has enhanced his image and earned him a promotion.
The lack of overall light-heartedness on the platform can perhaps be attributed to the precarious nature of workplace humour. The risk of a joke not inciting laughter but instead inviting troubles from the HR is a possibility. Furthermore, turning humour into a career-boosting tool while attracting potential employers is a tough nut to crack. It could just land you in the category of a character like David Brent from The Office who says, “I’m a friend first and a boss second. Probably an entertainer third.”
This might also be a reflection of the lack of seriousness in several white-collar jobs. As the late sociologist David Graeber put it roughly, if you are insightful, you might realise your job has an air of trumpery. But LinkedIn wants us to believe otherwise. “Those who are obsessed with money, power, and status have zero sense of humour,” as per Spicer. “That’s why they’re unintentionally funny.”
Yet, won’t humour become increasingly crucial in distinguishing humans from computers, particularly as artificial intelligence encroaches further into our lives? After all, AI tools are already quite proficient at generating LinkedIn content. As an experiment, I even asked one tool to create a post about humour on LinkedIn.
The statement noted, “Humour indeed has a role to play, yet the essence of maintaining a refined and directed demeanour on this commercially oriented platform cannot be understated. Let’s uphold the #professional standards and save the #humour for other platforms! #LinkedInObservations”. When it comes to the battle against the machines, #laughter could potentially be our strongest shield. – The Financial Times Limited 2024.