Category: Social Media

Thoughts on socia media, which has addicted many and alienated others.

Three isn’t just an odd number. It’s the only integer between two and four.

In a contrived post about Shibusawa Eiichi on a certain platform not known for user authenticity:

Shibusawa wasn’t just an entrepreneur. He was a system builder.

…

He didn’t try to dominate one industry. He helped create all of them.

…

Japan’s modernization did not happen by accident. It was intentional.

…

[As the reason why he’s on the 10,000-yen note] Not because he was the richest man in Japan, but because he made it possible for others to create wealth.

Wow, that’s four of these AI-smelling constructions in a single post.

Does the person who wrote this using AI realize what it looks like? I doubt it. He identifies as a… drumroll… founder.

Enough said, and I doubt that you even need be told by me where the above was posted—everybody’s favorite hyper-curated phony persona promotion platform.

Enshittification of LinkedIn on the March

I have watched for some time the LinkedIn coaches selling coaching to desperate LinkedIn users who want to get jobs or achieve “LinkedIn success,” whatever that might mean (probably very little).

I now find from my LinkedIn slop feed that there are coaches on LinkedIn selling coaching to help people get work on, of all places, the click-work platform Upwork.

I am not surprised to see that numerous posts on LinkedIn to sell Upwork coaching are from people in places like Nigeria, Ghana, and Pakistan, which are probably home to many power users of click-work platforms like Upwork.

The proliferation of these Upwork coaching ads on LinkedIn says speaks about not only the people who use Upwork, but also the progressive enshittification of the platform LinkedIn itself. LinkedIn was never a good place for freelancers to find meaningful work, and now it is acting to promote coaching for users of an even less meaningful platform.

The end is near. No, wait, the end is not near. I think we might be seeing the end already, but these platforms are supported by countless desperate users trying to survive.