LinkedIn has released a new reaction option for those who want to express their amusement or humor on the platform.
The “Funny” emoji will be available as one of six choices in response messages whenever someone posts something funny, humorous and light-hearted within professional boundaries – which seems like an important consideration given how many times we see this type content posted by others seeking attention without any regard towards professionalism!
The question is whether these ‘growth hackers’ realize what they are doing or not. The big trending posts on LinkedIn get repeated and re-posted by others, in a bid to maximize engagement – which some people would see as stroke of genius but for regular users who view same joke billions times it’s not best experience at all.
LinkedIn is seeing record levels of engagement growth. With the current economic situation in flux, you can bet that a lot more people will be using LinkedIn over this coming year too–as they change roles and seek out new opportunities- but still I’m not entirely sure posting funny reactions would necessarily incentivize off topic posts on your profile anymore since it may just inspire even MORE responses from others who want to show how clever/cleverly hilarious they are by responding with something equally as entertaining!
Funny post requests have been high up there on list features requested
In February, LinkedIn’s Chief Product Officer Tomer Cohen said that: “One of the top requests we got was for a laughing emoji reaction. We hear you loud & clear and we agree. Humor is indeed a serious business.”
Whether I think it’s great or awful is irrelevant; people want it, and LinkedIn is eager to give its users what they desire. More on how to use LinkedIn reactions here.