# LinkedIn 214 Hacker News commenters recommended LinkedIn and 708 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 10 years (19 owners). **Verdict:** Recommended for job listings, recruiter contact, B2B outreach and a public CV, though critics cite a feed of AI slop and cringe posts, invasive data use and shadowbans. ## Why people recommend it - Finding jobs and recruiter contact (8 comments): "the most-accessible job listings are on LI - more so because that's where most (American) companies & recruiters post to" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49947563)) "To be fair it’s been pretty useful for me for finding jobs by looking for a relevant person and messaging them." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48848834)) "Isn't it better to have a single place you check when you need a job because everyone else is also there?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46071338)) - Reach for B2B sales, visibility (6 comments): "LinkedIn is pretty much the only social network out there where the average person has a shot at a little reach for their posts." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49271110)) "It keeps my audience and people in my industry aware of what I am working on, and that makes my work more impactful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46190081)) "LinkedIn for B2B, hands down. We sell to hardware manufacturers and decision makers there actually check their feed." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48917763)) - Public résumé and virtual rolodex (5 comments): "I keep my profile updated as a consultant because it lets clients and others in my company get a fuller gauge than my one pager." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47564035)) "A LinkedIn account's sole purpose is publishing, dissemination, and advertising information about you and your company." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47103070)) "It solved the long running problems of: a) keeping tabs on people across company moves b) a public, standardized CV" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46361066)) - Feed improves with curation (4 comments): "LinkedIn's algorithm to be the best of the main platforms at respecting my choices of who I want to hear from" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46075627)) "if you actively prune / curate WHO you add to your LinkedIn, you end up with a feed that is genuinely useful" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49269760)) "This has made LinkedIn truly blissful for me, but this only seems to work on the LinkedIn web app on my PC." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49224263)) ## What people warn about - AI slop and cringe posts (9 comments): "There were always awful million-view posts written by humans, useless influencers promoted by the algorithm." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49586098)) "I open it to do the daily puzzles. But it means that I'm subject to 1 or 2 cringe posts before I get there." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49269882)) "it’s deteriorated to the point where shit-posting is becoming normalized, so it has that going for it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47563817)) - Invasive data use and scanning (6 comments): "I would put money on the public statement by a LinkedIn official saying "Your profile is yours" will bite them in the future as they certainly don't treat it that way." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49833323)) "Not clear why it needs to scan for Amazon image downloaders, Rufus conversation extracters, Amazon delivery scheduler, Product Scanner, or pharmacy operations." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47626798)) "it is unacceptable to tell a user "oh we have been using your personal data for 5 months already and will continue to do so unless you explicitly opt out"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47968430)) - Feels like mandatory career chore (3 comments): "I too loathe LinkedIn. However it kinda feels like you have to use it if you’re a freelance senior developer" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48852377)) "I have to use LinkedIn to sell. I only occasionally look at the feed but I am ruthlessly muting or blocking anyone who is blatantly foisting their AI drivel on other humans." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47341965)) "It was always a center of corporate slop and backpatting, something that in theory was optional but was more like a mandatory career chore" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49344678)) - Opaque algorithm suppression, shadowbans (2 comments): "Seems I was shadowbanned even after providing my ID, which seems insane to me that the main professional social network can just do that to someone without due process" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48632722)) "LinkedIn is also suppressive. The algo for maximizing non-confrontational screen time is strongly tuned against: critical posts and comments." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49588040)) ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.linkedin.com/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "LinkedIn", https://hackerapproved.com/p/linkedin/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).