Personal communication or digital business card?

The author

Tillmann Prüfer is a member of the editor-in-chief of “Zeit-Magazin”.

I keep getting emails telling me that someone wants to connect with me on LinkedIn. I read such emails with horror, because I haven’t visited LinkedIn for a long time, I don’t even remember what it looks like there or what people do there. I forgot my password or at least left it somewhere where I would have to look for it for a while. Now there are a lot of people who have tried to connect with me and have never received an answer from me.

As far as I can tell, LinkedIn is Facebook for people who have jobs. I don’t think it’s generally a bad thing when people have jobs, I have some too. But it always scares me a little when people talk enthusiastically about their job. I can already see that on Instagram, where people are constantly gushing about their lives. What inspirational guys they just met, what city they’re drinking Lillet in.

When I visit these media, I have the feeling that everyone, really everyone, has a more exciting life than me. I look at Instagram and get sad. I don’t think I can cope with more than one social network. And yet I’m registered everywhere. There’s even a Snapchat account with my name on it. After all, nobody there has tried to network with me.

I have now read in the “New York Times” that LinkedIn has changed a lot in recent years: “LinkedIn gets personal.” The platform used to be something like a digital business card, a résumé on the web with contact options. But during the pandemic, more and more people started using LinkedIn as a way to keep in touch with their colleagues who were no longer able to meet in the office. In the meantime, it is not only used professionally, but also creates millions of posts every day, in which people no longer only exchange information about their work, but about all sorts of things.

Top jobs of the day

Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.

More columns by Tillmann Prüfer

I can say that in the past people in offices didn’t just talk about work. It is also a misconception that offices used to be primarily used for work. I find that many people have used the office primarily not to work but just to be present in some way.

In that sense, LinkedIn may just have become more normal, a place where people are human. And when many people are angry with me because I haven’t responded to their networking offer for months. I don’t think I would dare to go there at all. Shame, looks cool there.

More: Don’t be who you are – at least at work

source site-13