Let’s be real… LinkedIn is for job hoppers, job poachers and job boasters. In this WIFM (what’s in it for me) economic environment, everyone is a social climber. I guess it is quintessential Survival of the Fittest. Think of LinkedIn as a wild kingdom with 3 types of animals, those looking to conquer others to gain status (job hoppers), those looking to use other animals to boost their status (job poachers (read recruiters)) and those just wanting to flaunt their status (job boasters). It’s a crazy world out there and watch out – because in LinkedIn kingdom, sometimes zebras do change their stripes.
According to Jeff Weiner, the CEO of LinkedIn , there is a greater purpose for this “professional” environment. According to Weiner “…Part of our vision is building off of this professional graph to create an economic graph. So, imagine a world where every job and economic opportunity is digitally represented, and the skills required to get those jobs is digitally represented, and the companies offering these jobs have a profile that’s available on the web, and you can see who you know at these companies up to 3 degrees, and that every individual, every professional worldwide — you know, there’s 3.3 billion people in the global workforce — that every professional, someone that earns a living from their skill, on a global basis has their digital profile and identity available.” It is Weiner’s goal to use this “data” to “literally start to improve the productivity of the global economy, making it easier for capital, both human capital and resources, to flow to where they can best be leveraged.”
Lofty idea huh!!!! This is all great and dandy and feeds right into the WIFM generation, but there is business to be done. Human capital… Really? When will we move away from this individualistic culture to one in which we see each other as being on the same team? Moreover, a team that needs to work together to improve America’s current unstable economic environment.
So in summary, a suggestion for the future of LinkedIn, try to connect businesses not people. Why not utilize “professionals” to build businesses not individuals?
