LinkedIn clamps down on 'engagement-baiting' polls and posts

Posted on May 31, 2022

Social Media Marketing Digital Marketing

LinkedIn clamps down on 'engagement-baiting' polls and posts

Despite user activity on LinkedIn hitting record heights, the social media platform recently announced that it was updating its News Feed algorithm to cut down on 'engagement-baiting' posts and polls.

Following feedback from users, LinkedIn has announced a number of updates to how content will be prioritised in users' news feeds. The changes include:

Reducing low-quality content: In an effort to tackle the number of posts that expressly ask or encourage users to engage with a specific post via likes or reactions – requests that are often posted with the exclusive intent of boosting reach on the platform - LinkedIn has confirmed that they will not be promoting this type of content and will prioritise content that delivers value to its online community.
Better filtering for polls: User feedback suggested that there are too many polls appearing on LinkedIn. The algorithm has been updated to try and only show users polls that are helpful and relevant. That means fewer polls from people a user doesn't know and more from those in a user's existing network.

Keeping conversations safe: LinkedIn is investing in the teams, tools and technology that are responsible for taking action on content and profiles that violate the platform's Professional Community Policies.

LinkedIn also confirmed that it will be introducing several new features to improve personalisation and the relevancy of the content that is shown in a user's news feed, including:

More options for members to signal what they aren’t interested in: LinkedIn is adding an “I don’t want to see this” option on individual posts, so users can better curate the content they see. By clicking the 3 dots of any post, users can indicate that they don’t want to see as much content from a certain creator/author or about a specific topic, or highlight content that might go against LinkedIn's Professional Community Policies.

Choose if you want to see less political content in your feed: LinkedIn is testing a way for users to say that they don't want to see political content in their news feeds. This feature is currently being tested only in the US, but might be expanded to more regions depending on feedback.

Main photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash

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