By R. Christopher Haines, Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer
Lately, I’ve been feeling insignificant … like I don’t even matter in this big, cruel world. I’m sitting here pouring my heart out, and half of you won’t even read this. Not because you don’t want to, but because you will never have the chance to see it. And there’s the problem.
At what point did LinkedIn become smarter than me? At what point did Facebook know what I wanted to see more than I even knew myself? When did Instagram learn which picture I want to see first from the people I follow? Is this happening while I’m asleep? Is my WIFI reading my thoughts during my slumber? Has my smartphone tapped into my brain, and I didn’t even know it? Is my electronic toothbrush telling my smart thermostat to tell my Keurig coffee maker which posts I should see first? Man, I hope not.
By now you’re likely wondering, “Where are you going with this Chris?” Here’s the deal. I like order. I like to see social media posts in chronological order, not in some predetermined order of importance in which I have no say. Is that so wrong? Am I nuts for wanting to see things this way?
The new LinkedIn format is close to driving me nuts, or at least pushing me to quit LinkedIn altogether. Things appear first in my list that were posted two weeks ago, things I didn’t even see in the first place. Maybe I would have liked to “like” or comment on these posts when they were relevant. What do I look like commenting on something from two weeks ago? And changing to chronological order is no longer an option. I liked to open LinkedIn and see everything posted since the last time I visited. In order.
Facebook is worse. It shows things in order if you choose, but it now randomly hides posts by your friends for a reason I have yet to figure out. I’m not sure I’ll ever figure it out. And it isn’t even hiding and showing the same posts consistently. You can look on your mobile device and see a post and then see a different post on your laptop. And don’t get me started on Instagram.
What about people like me? Don’t we matter? Did I miss something on the ballot November 8th? Did we vote on whether the world would see social media items based on arbitrary or random relevance, instead of chronological order, with no input from us? If so, I would have threatened to move to Canada or something.
Chronologicals Unite! We matter. Let me know when it’s our day to march on the National Mall or to boycott our jobs.
I’ll be there.