Oversharing on LinkedIn

When I saw The New York Times article about oversharing on LinkedIn, I honestly felt conflicted. Because on the one hand, a lot of the content I see in my feed could be improved with a few more personal anecdotes. On the other hand, I think oversharing (if by that we mean making things overly personal) on LinkedIn could make it just another social media platform like Facebook.

I'll admit when I post something with a personal story or angle - even if it's a story about a client - I get more impressions and likes. But maybe that's because people reading those posts feel like they need to acknowledge personal sharing vs. professional sharing? Or maybe people really like those posts more because they are fundamentally better, more interesting storytelling? Who knows!

In any case, for my clients, oversharing isn't really the problem. Sharing anything remains daunting for many of us on this platform. We're trying to cultivate a brand and manage our online presence, and LinkedIn is increasingly becoming the go-to for professional introductions. We're nervous about how we're perceived not only by people we haven't yet met but by our current employers, employees, and professional network. And even when there's something relatively innocuous to post about, it's hard not to feel like we're bragging or just following a template for sharing our own or someone else's win of the week.

It's too bad the article didn't cover those thorny elements!