The FT’s Emma Jacobs asks why if Linked In is now a place for personal posts , it isn’t funny.
I am responsible for a lot of posting on the site and am happy to post corporately or personally, but generally with a smile on my face.
Emma’s analysis is excellent and her conclusion is spot on. As we start another week of “toad”, let’s remember that we are generally better than what we post!
The general dearth of lightheartedness reflects the delicate nature of humour at work.
Aside from the risk that a quip will land not with a laugh but a meeting with HR, there is the balance between being career advancing and sounding like The Office character David Brent
“I’m a friend first and a boss second. Probably an entertainer third”.
It is particularly tricky to be funny while hoping to catch the eye of a potential employer. Perhaps it also speaks to the unseriousness of many white-collar jobs.
If you have any wit you probably know your job has a whiff of bullshit, to wildly paraphrase the late sociologist David Graeber. But LinkedIn depends on us acting otherwise.
“Those who are obsessed with money, power and status have zero sense of humour,”
says Spicer baldly.
“That’s why they’re unintentionally funny.”
Humour, however, is one of the few traits to differentiate humans from computers, something that will only become more important in the future surely?
Artificial intelligence tools already do a pretty good job of generating LinkedIn content. To test it, I asked one to create a post about humour on LinkedIn.
“While laughter has its place,” it wrote. “There’s value in maintaining a polished and focused presence on this business-centric platform. Let’s keep the #professionalism high and the #jokes for another platform! #LinkedInInsights”.
In a war against the machines the best defence may be #humour.
A note to AgeWage and Pension PlayPen’s 17,000 members
I’m sure we’ve all ground our teeth over some of the posts that are unavoidable on linked in. The algorithm makes us complicit in the madness and I have to admit- even our own Pension PlayPen group is seldom free of corporate nonsense.
But to keep the place decent, I’m trying to be bolder in my editorial and doing my best to promote intelligent and genuinely funny stuff, to the top of our feed.
To keep Linked in in some sort of shape, please post proper stuff .
If you are reading this and aren’t a member of the AgeWage and Pension PlayPen linked in group
