The LinkedIn Algorithm

I was talking to Amy.

“Dave,” she said, “Your posts aren’t optimized

For the LinkedIn algorithm”

“You could get 10 times more likes and comments

If you just write for the algorithm”

I appreciated Amy’s idea, she’s a rockstar.

But I wondered, Is that the point?

Do I write for LinkedIn’s algorithm?

Do I write for likes and comments?

Particularly when, most of the comments are…

“You’re the man, Dave!”

I guess LinkedIn’s algorithm, doesn’t like substantive conversation.

But curious, I studied the algorithm.

I think LinkedIn has a literary bias.

Perhaps it’s Iambic Pentameter.

It doesn’t appear to look at content.

But likes the rise and fall of the story line.

The best content starts with a confession.

It continues with the journey.

The journey culminates with a discovery.

But we are left with not seeing the “Aha moment,”

Because LinkedIn’s algorithm doesn’t like that.

We learn that LinkedIn likes suspense.

The discovery is embedded in a link, in a separate comment.

So it appears, what one says,

May not be important.

Instead, LinkedIn likes how you tell the story.

This creates a dilemma–every story has to have tension

Do I write for LinkedIn’s algorithm?

Do I chase like’s and “You go, Dave?”

Or do I write for my audience?

The answer is in the link in the comments 😉