Kineta Kelsall is known for her deep understanding of marketing and social strategy. In this guest post, she discusses the dangers of moving away from quality content and towards placating the LinkedIn algorithm.
Have you noticed a recent change in your LinkedIn feed content? Well, LinkedIn users have caught on to the fact that those weeks-old posts flooding our feeds are totally intentional. Thanks to their brand new experimental algorithm, “relevant”, rather than recent, content is being prioritized.
That sounds reasonable, right? That is, until you realize what they actually mean by “relevant”. Instead of spotlighting timely updates or meaningful insights, the platform is pushing a very different kind of post to the top of your feed.
For instance, LinkedIn also seems to be rewarding selfies. As long as your face is slapped on a post, it’s more likely to get pushed into feeds, even if there’s not much substance underneath it.
If that feels familiar, it’s because it is. It’s a lot like the old days of Facebook, when people would upload whole chunks of their digital camera roll. The more your face showed up, the more likes you got, and the more popular you appeared.
Combine that with LinkedIn’s new “relevance” logic, and the outcome becomes clear: feeds filled with two or three-week-old content. Events and opinions that have already come and gone are resurfacing, while the posts prioritized as “relevant” tend to be selfies paired with generic, copy-and-paste captions. Meanwhile, genuinely useful insights ‒ the kind of content many people come to LinkedIn for ‒ are buried in the dark corners of the platform.
The power of collective objection
Following an onslaught of negative feedback (and some brilliant memes from marketers) as a result of the algorithmic shift, LinkedIn has rolled back the change. But the real issue is less about the algorithm and more about what we’ve trained it to think is valuable content.
Look, LinkedIn has genuinely helped me build my business. I’ve met brilliant people on the platform, learned from genuine experts, and found opportunities I’d never have accessed otherwise.
But, at the moment, my feed feels increasingly like a wasteland of recycled wisdom.
The shift in content creation
As someone who trains and works with brilliant strategists and marketers, I’ve heard first-hand how this shift in content creation has affected creators, many of whom no longer feel ‘worthy’ of posting on LinkedIn.
Yet, someone who attaches a selfie to a bland post gets 2,000-plus likes?! Yes, sometimes personal photos are backed up by posts of substance, but at most other times it’s the same old stuff repackaged with better lighting.
Gen AI is turning us into content robots
And that’s exactly what we’re doing now on LinkedIn; copy-and-pasting opinions, adding a selfie, and waiting for it to rank. We’ve become content repurposers instead of creative thinkers.
We’ve all turned into robots because we don’t know how to think anymore. Then you’ve got the algorithm, another robot, eating it all up. It’s basically robots training robots.
I’ve seen the same posts seventeen different ways this week. At this point, I genuinely don’t know what’s a real opinion anymore, never mind what’s original and not just what’s currently trending in the feed.
Indeed, sometimes I wonder if there’s a dimly lit cave full of personal brand creators liking each other’s posts in some kind of engagement clique, or maybe they’re all on some other social platform the rest of us haven’t heard about yet!
Are users engaging because they like this content, or because they know that if they engage, the re-poster will engage back? Are we actually even reading anymore? Or are we just skimming, liking, and moving on, hoping the algorithm keeps us in the loop and will reward us and our posts too?
People no longer feel worthy
The saddest part? The people with the most interesting perspectives often have the least confidence to share them. I speak to experts who convince themselves that their insights aren’t good enough for LinkedIn while content recyclers harvest thousands of likes with repackaged quotes from business books.
We’re teaching a generation of new professionals joining LinkedIn that visibility belongs to those with the least shame about self-promotion rather than those with the most to offer.
I like people’s faces, I do, I don’t even mind my own. But why do we have to show them to rank better? It’s not that every post with a selfie has vapid commentary, but it’s sad that we’ve reached the point where showing our faces seems necessary for views.
What’s the solution to appearing on the LinkedIn feed?
We need to stop pretending this is normal. We must stop rewarding the safe, polished, nothingness of engagement-optimized content. And, most importantly, we have to start raising the bar.
If you’re someone who doesn’t get hundreds of likes, or who actually reads and values substance over surface, this is for you. The platforms might not prioritise it, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t.
How we retrain the algorithm (together)
- Stop rewarding fluff: don’t like or comment just because you recognise someone’s face. Save that like for posts with substance, real human opinions, and perspectives.
- Engage with depth: read properly, then leave comments that add something meaningful. That signals to the algorithm that the post is valuable.
- Support the quiet voices: if someone thoughtful isn’t getting the reach you think they deserve, amplify them by reposting their comment.
- Model what good looks like: publish your own posts with ideas, learnings, and thoughtful perspectives, even if they don’t initially rack up likes.
People are moving to Substack and Bluesky
I still value LinkedIn.
Lately, though, I find myself drawn to platforms like Substack and Bluesky where the rules are looser, the content feels authentic rather than manufactured, and people are human without having to prove it with their face.
Unlike LinkedIn, Bluesky offers increased user control over feeds and data, and a community-focused environment without the algorithmic interference we’ve come to expect with LinkedIn.
Substack is also a great alternative, particularly in terms of benefiting creators and readers alike with a platform for long-form content that is “relevant” regardless of the images or selfies attached.
If we want LinkedIn to matter again, we have to stop feeding the algorithm like we’re making creative sacrifices to an all-powerful god. It’s not a popularity contest unless we make it one.
Key takeaways:
We’ve trained the algorithm to value familiarity, not quality
- The issue isn’t the algorithm itself, but collective user behavior that rewards visibility and self-promotion over originality and depth, promoting shallow content.
- Content creation is becoming robotic and algorithm-driven
- There’s a growing trend of generative AI-driven, copy-paste content that lacks critical thinking or originality. As people optimize for algorithm approval, the platform is flooded with posts that feel generic.
- High-value contributors are being silenced by a “worthiness” crisis
- Experts with meaningful insights often hesitate to post due to low confidence, while louder voices with less substance thrive, discouraging authentic contribution.
- We must raise the bar and reward substance
- Users must resist the trend of engagement-farming and instead share authentic, thought-provoking content, even if it’s imperfect.
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