You can certainly get real engagement on other platforms still. I think the reason there is so much weird cringe on LinkedIn is that:
1. It actually does get a lot of engagement and watch time, maybe not even despite how bad it is, but because it’s so bad that people can’t look away. If it’s cringy enough it’s no longer boring. It used to be that people ignored the feed entirely because it was all just boring stuff.
2. Building a personal brand is a really big thing these days and is legitimately valuable. Being able to write something and hit post and get real engagement for $0 (vs what it’d cost to get that engagement by paying for it directly) is nuts. IMO this isn’t obvious if you’re working as an engineer but if your job requires any sales or marketing it’s genuinely helpful.
3. LinkedIn is actually a really good place to farm engagement because of its general user base (professionals from early career to prime earning years), professional bent (intent), and availability of real names/titles/location.
I find it kind of fascinating how these engagement mechanisms work in spite of it all because they all rely on some kind of “hack” on human attention.
You're second point is interesting, because that's probably what's going on, but the brand that many of these people are building is that they are psychopathic nutjobs who view dead/dying/sick children as a career advancing opportunity.
1. It actually does get a lot of engagement and watch time, maybe not even despite how bad it is, but because it’s so bad that people can’t look away. If it’s cringy enough it’s no longer boring. It used to be that people ignored the feed entirely because it was all just boring stuff.
2. Building a personal brand is a really big thing these days and is legitimately valuable. Being able to write something and hit post and get real engagement for $0 (vs what it’d cost to get that engagement by paying for it directly) is nuts. IMO this isn’t obvious if you’re working as an engineer but if your job requires any sales or marketing it’s genuinely helpful.
3. LinkedIn is actually a really good place to farm engagement because of its general user base (professionals from early career to prime earning years), professional bent (intent), and availability of real names/titles/location.
I find it kind of fascinating how these engagement mechanisms work in spite of it all because they all rely on some kind of “hack” on human attention.