20190429.0430

Looking at what LinkedIN has had to offer over the past month has been interesting, certainly. I know that I've tended to fall into the same habits with it that I have with other media I consume; much of what I've done has been looking at what it offers me to read, summarizing it, and offering my comments upon the same. How useful or edifying those comments have been, I do not know; I hope they have been helpful or interesting for people, but I know better than to expect much in that regard. After all, did what I have to say much matter, I'd be producing more original content than responses to the same, and I'd be more confident in it, such that I'd push it forward in more places than I do what I write here.
One thing that has been abundantly clear to me is that the audience LinkedIN believes it has is not looking for deep reading. It is not looking for developed ideas. It is, instead, looking for short bits that help business and corporate folks feel good about themselves and allow them to work towards the idea that employees in the current socioeconomic climate can be persuaded to offer the kind of loyalty that they need not reciprocate, to give of themselves abundantly until that final moment when they are let go as no longer of immediate use. I acknowledge that the view is cynical, but it is also grounded in my reading through what comes across my feed, both from my contacts who remain active on the platform and from the platform's own systems. If I am cynical, it is because I am paying attention. I believe the face-eater when it says it wants to eat faces, and I do what I can to protect my face from it.
That said, although I am not going to focus my attentions on LinkedIN as much going forward as I have in the past month, I am going to make sure that I pay attention to it. For one, it does offer me another venue for writing--and thereby for advertising my abilities and what I might offer through them. (Hey, I have to keep the lights on, too.) I do intend on doing more to put myself out into the business community where I live; I intend on going to such a function this Friday, as a matter of fact. It will be good to have some kind of entrée into conversations there, and the materials on LinkedIN offer such a thing; business trends can be discussed, even at "outside" events, and I am not so well grounded in sport or outdoor life as I would need to be to participate in the other conversations like to be going on at such events. Nor yet do I have ready access to the most recent television shows, which closes off another avenue.
As I note, the experience has been interesting. I will be moving on from it, but I am glad to have done it.