The LOTUS Approach: Reframing LinkedIn
About a year ago, I realized I had nothing meaningful to say on LinkedIn anymore. Honestly, the place has become a professional version of show-and-tell, and I didn’t like the activity in elementary school. In the last 12 months, I composed a total of four posts focused on civil rights, AI and global inequality, educational policy, and leadership. Beyond that, I didn’t want to contribute to the noise unless I had something useful to offer.
A few years ago, I stepped back from Facebook because my feed had been possessed by influencers pushing clickbait. I planned to increase my engagement on LinkedIn because I felt it was a space where I could add value. This year, I drafted several posts and could not bring myself to follow through. Something had changed about the LinkedIn ecosystem that gave me pause. So I refrained from posting for months and analyzed my feed. I knew I didn’t want to lurk for long, since passive consumption can make us vulnerable to upward social comparison, which can negatively impact mental health. Eventually, I identified the source of my discontent with the platform.
LinkedIn had evolved into a type of digital mall, a high-traffic platform that prioritizes consumption over organic connection. My feed has become saturated with posts that don’t spark dialogue, but broadcast announcements and push enterprise software. When the baseline experience of a platform becomes an endless stream of polished, transactional broadcasting, the space feels less like a professional community and more like an exhausting showroom.
As someone seeking to facilitate genuine dialogue, I found this transactional noise to be a barrier to the meaningful updates from the colleagues and mentors I truly value. I realized that if I wanted to remain on the platform, I couldn't continue broadcasting or lurking. I had to pivot from being a salesperson at the ‘mall’ to an intentional contributor with greater agency in a professional networking ecosystem. This prompted me to create my own practice for meaningful engagement, the LOTUS Approach.
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I distinguish the superficial noise from relevant content. I want to add value to my feed.
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I sometimes post or comment specifically to uplift or encourage others. I want to support professional growth and let people know they aren’t shouting into a void.
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I post original content only when I have a meaningful update to give. I’m choosing quality over cadence. Even failure has a place in my timeline because it demonstrates growth.
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I like to listen before I post to see what’s actually trending in my feed, meeting people where they are rather than shouting into a void.
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I comment on someone else’s post before I share my own updates to add value to an existing dialogue.
The LOTUS Approach is not rigid because your motivation for using LinkedIn may vary depending on time constraints. You may have 5 minutes available to post so you don't need to understand the climate, you want to shape it. Or should only want to offer your perspective on someone else's post because the topic aligns with your area of expertise. The LOTUS Approach is an practice you can try on.
While pausing my engagement on LinkedIn was a purely personal choice to preserve my sanity and figure out what was bothering me, my decision was grounded in research that passive scrolling and high-cadence, transactional broadcasting actively degrade our mental health. This new approach empowers me, as a user, to make meaningful contributions across the ecosystem on my own terms.
My most recent post is an example of the LOTUS Approach in action. Rather than scrolling through the noise, I actively searched for posts from my employer to set the tone for my engagement. I understood commencement season as the current climate. It’s a time of celebrating the major achievements of graduates. I noticed two familiar faces on my university’s page. They were being recognizedwith an award for their commitment to community engaged service. Time had flown by and I couldn’t believe both of these individuals were already graduating. I was immensely proud to see them honored with such a prestigious award. I was able to offer validation by uplifting two brilliant emerging leaders I had the pleasure of working with over the years. I was in awe of what they have accomplished and grateful to have spent time training them both. The conversation continued in the comments with both leaders, which tells a deeper story, and I was able to share my perspective on their personal and professional growth.
The LOTUS approach allows me to actively resist some of the problematic shifts I’ve noticed on LinkedIn and other social platforms. With this practice I can continue to show up on the platform in various ways that benefit my network and my professional growth. If you try the LOTUS Approach 🪷 share your experience with me on LinkedIn. I hope it is a helpful practice.
