Although it has come to be intermittent and unpredictable, Microsoft continues to prevent me from making comments on posts on LinkedIn, its social media platform masquerading as a professional networking platform.
They hint strongly that this is because of my verification status. This includes posts by people I’m connected with.
I, of course, am not verified and not going to “verify.”
What does Microsoft expect to gain from such behavior? Does it expect its user victims to submit to its suggestion to be “verified?”
The last time I looked at the verification process, it required the scanning of an IC-embedded government-issued document. Who in their right mind would submit to an entity like Microsoft scraping their government ID?
I think the answer to that is clearly that it is people who suffer from FONBOL, fear of not being on LinkedIn, some of whom surely believe that LinkedIn is where it all happens.
A case can be made that LinkedIn is a place where lots of phony things happen, and lots of delusional things happen. More and more, however, since so many things appear to be done online, there’s nothing special about being on LinkedIn or most anywhere else online. Getting a life in the real world outside of the Internet is the best approach, but getting a life anywhere doesn’t appear to be an option for a growing number of people. Freelance translators firmly ensconsed in the precariat are good examples.
On the contrary, there is an ever-increasing value to being out in the real world. This is particularly the case of freelancers who are in a captive labor pool that can’t break away from the service brokers they depend on for income.
That is a tough pill to swallow for people who have grown up staring at their computer or smartphone screens thinking that today’s the day it’s going to happen. That’s a highly optimistic dream from which people need to awaken as soon as possible if they are looking to survive.