LinkedIn Wars: Is it Performative or Proactive 

🗓️ March, 2026

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There's a lot of discourse around the professional social networking app LinkedIn. Some feel as if it's an app that is used for the performative purpose of posting your achievements, that no true jobs or connections can be secured through this app. But others feel the opposite. LinkedIn has given them connections and networking opportunities that have eventually led to securing jobs and internship opportunities. In this article, I am going to give some information about LinkedIn and let you come to your own conclusion.

1. Some Background and Functionality Of LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the largest professional networking platform with over 1.2 billion users. This app is designed for the purpose of career development, job searching, and professional networking. Users of LinkedIn can create profiles that list their education, professional accomplishments/ experiences, and connect with other users. LinkedIn allows you to search for jobs in your preferred field and shows you a wide range of job openings. It also notifies you if current students or alumni work at the company of the job posting. LinkedIn also offers a premium version. LinkedIn Premium Career costs $29.99 a month, and LinkedIn Premium Business costs $69.99 a month. LinkedIn Premium Career allows you to see where you rank compared to other applicants, send up to 5 messages per month to recruiters and users that are not a part of your network, see who views your profile, and offers access to LinkedIn Learning courses. LinkedIn Premium Business allows you to search for multiple companies and users without a limit, send up to 15 messages per month to recruiters and users that are not a part of your network,see who views your profile, and access to analytics and data on companies. However for college students you can get 12 months of LinkedIn premium through a partnership with Microsoft with the use of a college email. You can learn more about this offer through the link. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5814805/how-do-i-get-linkedin-premium. 

2.)Tailoring Your LinkedIn Profile

A LinkedIn profile can change your whole image if utilized properly. Tailoring your LinkedIn profile to get the attention of recruiters and companies is not easy but definitely doable. The first step when creating your LinkedIn profile is having a professional headshot or photo of your face on standby. While recent high school graduates might be tempted to use their graduation photos. I would stay away from that because it’s a clear indicator of your classification. After you have a decent profile picture, give a little bit about yourself and what you aspire to be. Next you should list any relevant skills or work experience that you think a recruiter would want to know about. Once these steps are complete it is time to start building connections. Connecting with people at your college and in your major is usually a good place to start to just get to know the people that are in close proximity to you. Posting small achievements and things you have helped on is also great way to build rapport and be more interactive with your connections. Tip: If you're nervous about making daily post and the end of each semester you can do a recap of all the things you have accomplished.

3.Standing Out In A Crowd

With the high amount of LinkedIn users it can often feel performative and like no real connections are being made. While this is a very true statement you must find ways to stand out amongst the crowd. Sometimes making a connection isn’t especially for the users and profiles who have 500+ connections. To them you’re just another account. You have to be personable and really make an effort to connect. When sending an invite attach a note. Or reach out  immediately after connecting, ask them about themselves, tell them a little about you and really make an effort to get to know them. This effort can go a long way and help you stand out in a sea of accounts. For some accounts you cannot message them on LinkedIn unless you have LinkedIn premium. Don’t let this stop you find their email and email them! Let them know that you recently connected with them on LinkedIn and would like to get to know them. While LinkedIn can feel performative and competitive with the multiple accounts out there. Don’t let it stop you from posting or even making an account. And most importantly don’t compare yourself to others. The connections are out there you just have to go the extra mile and you never know who is watching.