“If a LinkedIn account gets deleted in the forest and no one is around to see it, does anyone really care?” with apologies to George Berkeley
I recently decided to close out my LinkedIn account. Like I suspect a lot of folks did, I started on LinkedIn because it was supposed to be a professional networking site. While it certainly has its devotees and I’m certain that for many people it is a critical part of their business day, I just never found it to be all that useful. I was getting connection requests from people I don’t know who were just trying to sell me stuff, recommendations from people for skills that I probably have but don’t really care about promoting, and even after shutting off all the notifications, it was just something else I had to do. And now, since I tend to be trying to minimize my distractions and obligations, it just seemed to be time. I had planned to close it before the recent change in their terms of service and had already deleted most of my connections, but that email was the catalyst I needed to shut it down.
So I’m still on Facebook, although I rarely look at it and don’t share anything other than my blog posts. I’m on Instagram but don’t post much and don’t have many followers or follow many people (by design). I have a Twitter account but have never tweeted, although I think I might have liked or shared a thing or two. Most importantly, the people who need to reach me know how. and those who matter the most to me are probably reading this blog. Maybe all the way to the end! 😉
I deleted my LinkedIn account years ago and never looked back. It became not only useless but annoying.
Very nice shot btw, Tom.
Thank you, Ken! Glad we’re connected in much less annoying ways. 😉
LinkedIn serves a purpose but at this stage of my life, like you, it has no value to me. However, to give LinkedIn its due I do know of those who have found career opportunities and made valuable networking contacts via the site. Maybe it’s just that I’ve not been a “climber” for many a year. 🙂
Yeah, I think there is definitely an audience for it Earl. But like you, I’d like to think I’ve interviewed for my last job and the networking thing just isn’t my thing.
Yep, my account is gone. Never use Instagram or Facebook except to catch up on family stuff. Have really slacked off of pBase posting and Aminus3. About all I social interaction is on my blog and that’s sporadic. I enjoy following my friends blogs. I do use twitter but basically to read inspirational quotes and a few photographers.
I like Instagram because I find it to be casual and spontaneous, or at least that’s how I use it. A lot of people use it as just another way to shout, so I manage that by having just a few people who I follow. As with Facebook, I am pretty selective about who I allow into my feed. I don’t go to Twitter as much because I find it to be heavily weighted toward people sharing other people’s stuff, and much less toward original content. I greatly prefer to see original content.
I still keep my LinkedIn account only because it’s the only way that I have to contact some of my former coworkers that I like to keep in touch with. I don’t have a FB account, rarely use Twitter, and don’t have any of the other social media goings-ons, like Instagram, Snapchat, etc.
I do get lots of recruiters asking to join my network, but I don’t accept their invitations, only the ones that I know personally, have worked with in the past.