Finding Enjoyment in LinkedIn

I have been a member of the LinkedIn community for a while. For the past eight or so months my account has been left untouched. Many aspects of LinkedIn have overwhelmed me. The pressure to be professional on a social networking website was something I had to come to terms with. And I had to learn to look past the lack of photo albums and mindless banter that so many other networking sites provide.

My mom has been an advocate and user of LinkedIn since its inception. Recently my mom became much more involved with the purely unprofessional social networking site, Facebook. My mom's new embrace of the frivolous site spurred me on to embrace the not so frivolous LinkedIn. This morning I signed into my dusty LinkedIn account and finally created a profile.

There is something very vulnerable and exposing about posting your resume on a social networking website. I feel like I am on display. The Facebook is vague about what I have accomplished or how I spend most of my time. LinkedIn is all about documenting accomplishments for others to see. There does not seem to be anything light and jovial about LinkedIn, or so I thought.

I have some new ambitions for work in my field, and I figured LinkedIn could help me gain some valuable contacts for my endeavors. As I was browsing the bios of professionals I came across this bio summary:

Skilled psychotherapist, specializing in the treatment of depression and anxiety,
accomplished trainer, have conducted mental health seminars in 46 states,
published author, goals include expanding the scope and breadth of my
training seminars and developing a successful voiceover business voicing
commercials, corporate narration and audiobooks.

This professional mentioned the voiceover business multiple times on his profile. I know he is completely serious about his dawning voiceover career, but his enthusiasm made me feel like I was reading a personal ad. It was then that I realized LinkedIn bios can read like personal ads. Folks are writing about their accomplishments, dreams, goals, ambitions: all key components to compelling personal ads.

Reading LinkedIn profiles may become a new hobby. Maybe this professional networking site is not so serious afterall.