HyperSocial CEO Braden Wallake attracted controversy on the platform for announcing layoffs at his company while posting a selfie of himself in tears.
(Picture: LinkedIn)As frustration grows at users posting fake or hyperbolic claims on LinkedIn, one man thinks he’s come up with a solution: a ‘bullshit’ reaction button.
“LinkedIn, could you add a “Bullshit” reaction please?” wrote Rich Gibbard, boss of recruitment advisory firm Recbound, on a LinkedIn post that has since gone viral.
“You know…for when people do the whole “influencer” crap like posing for a picture (of themselves crying), saying how they saved someone’s life (when they didn’t) [or] gave someone a job (it was unpaid for a week)” he said.
The tongue-in-cheek suggestion comes after the boss of a marketing agency attracted controversy on the platform for announcing redundancies at his company while posting a selfie of himself in tears.
HyperSocial CEO Braden Wallake shared the sombre selfie, which has since gone viral, writing “not every CEO out there is cold-hearted” and “I’m sure there are hundreds and thousands of others like me,” adding that although it “isn’t professional” he loved all his employees.
The post sparked anger among a number of LinkedIn users, with some suggesting it was ingratiating and exploited the layoffs for personal publicity. Other users were more sympathetic, commenting that they thought the post was “genuine” and “spoken from the heart.”
Wallake has since returned to LinkedIn to apologise for the post, writing: “My intent was not to make it about me or victimize myself. I am sorry it came across that way.”
“There are so many people that come across as disingenuous or just doing it for likes,” Rich Gibbard told the Standard.
“When people are posting self-indulgent stuff it mostly puts other people off.
“People think personal branding is about who you are as a person – they do whatever they can about getting likes and comments without thinking about the long term.”
