Deception on LinkedIn®

Collaborative articles are the way to become a ‘Top Voice’ (the gold badge) on LinkedIn®. As a Top Voice on LinkedIn®, you gain significant influence and have built a larger reach on the platform. These individuals are often seen as thought leaders in their field and enjoy great prestige.

However, not all Top Voices achieve their status honestly. Some people use improper practices to acquire this status. Here are some of their techniques:

• Engagement pods: These are groups of users who collaborate with the goal of liking, sharing, and commenting on each other’s content. While this may seem like mutual support, it becomes problematic when the goal is purely to manipulate algorithms and create a false impression of popularity.
• Automation tools: These tools can be used to automatically connect, send messages, and even perform interactions like likes and comments. This allows a user to quickly and artificially build a large network and high engagement without authentic interaction.
• Buying likes and comments: There are services available that offer likes, comments, and shares for a fee. This naturally creates a false impression of influence and can mislead other users who think the person genuinely has a strong group of followers due to their valuable content.

The consequences of these deceptive practices are significant. First, they undermine the integrity of the platform. LinkedIn® is meant to promote genuine, authentic professional connections and exchanges of valuable ideas. When users are misled by artificially inflated profiles, it becomes harder to recognize truly valuable connections and content.

Second, the use of such practices can lead to a loss of trust within the community and in LinkedIn® itself. Users may become cynical and doubt the authenticity of engagement and the value of shared content. This can negatively impact the overall experience on LinkedIn®. LinkedIn® has policies and measures to counteract this kind of deception, such as detecting and punishing users who use automation tools or buy engagement. However, it remains an ongoing challenge to eliminate these practices as thought leaders become increasingly creative.

For users, it’s important to stay critical and aware of potential signs of deception. Authenticity and genuine interactions should always be at the core of professional networking. Only by staying true to these values can LinkedIn® continue its mission to be a reliable and valuable platform for professional growth and networking.

This blog is written in my own name.