A few weeks ago, I compiled a brief overview of a phenomenon that I hadn’t really noticed at first, but which now seems to be taking over the career platform LinkedIn. It involves posts by women (and a few men) that mostly consist of various types of selfies, sometimes accompanied by meaningful texts, but often paired with completely irrelevant ones.

There’s nothing wrong with selfies per se. If that were all there was to it, there are plenty of suitable platforms for them: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and the like. But I wonder what the point is of posting them on the career platform LinkedIn.

The vast majority of users post about their work or professional field, and occasionally share personal announcements (baby, wedding, loss of a loved one). However, most posts are about their professional careers.

Apparently not anymore. These selfies are a type of post that seem to serve as clickbait to elicit interactions with other users. They are about completely trivial things (why my coffee is warm, what my untied shoelace taught me, or why people like this particular emoji so much). Even bikini and sideboob selfies are not shied away from.

Some of these posts actually have meaningful accompanying texts, but they are accompanied by a selfie that has absolutely nothing to do with the topic, neither explains the facts nor is in any way appropriate, but shows one thing: a lot—often a lot—of skin.

Why Such “Cutie Posts”?

And then I ask myself: why? Why am I seeing this in my timeline? And why do people do this kind of thing? One LinkedIn user aptly described this phenomenon as “cutie posts.”

The first “why” is clearly answered: too many of my contacts comment on or like these posts. They also seem to take the content seriously, even though it’s pure hot air. And then it ends up on my timeline.

The second why is more difficult for me to answer. A social media coach said that women should take advantage of this and consciously generate visibility by deliberately exploiting their youth and beauty by posting such selfies. This attracts attention. And she is not the only one. A striking number of these people who post such meaningless selfies seem to be social media, influencer, or “how to create your personal brand on LinkedIn” coaches.

In other words, these selfie posts are multiplying, but not the relevant content.

The fact that meaningful posts that generate the right kind of professional attention might be more effective does not seem to feature in these social media and personal branding strategies. And that comes back to haunt them. Because the visibility they generate is insubstantial. As soon as something really important comes along, this visibility evaporates because it has never been transformed into substance.

Insubstantial Visibility

Using an example LinkedIn account, you can see what this person’s timeline has looked like over the last few months. One “cutie post” after another in different poses. And I stopped scrolling after two dozen posts. This is what many of these accounts look like.

When it comes to the career platform LinkedIn, one would expect the accompanying texts to be meaningful, or at least that someone had made an effort to make them meaningful. In the case of this specific account, they are, to some extent. They describe the person’s area of expertise. However, the selfies have absolutely no connection to the textual content. For example, psychologists such as Albert Bandura and other experts are quoted, but there is no picture of the person, no reference to any of their books or studies, and no appropriate illustrations. The illustrations are limited solely to a selfie of the person posting in various poses.

And she gets a lot of interaction for it. On average, more than a hundred likes, at least three dozen comments, and the occasional repost.

But as soon as this person shares completely different, truly important content and doesn’t post a selfie with it, even after a week the number of interactions remains in the sad single digits.

In other words, this person’s posts have no effect in real life. At least not for this particular post that they shared.

Visibility for Women?

Women who post such selfies often cite visibility for women as justification for doing so. They argue that men have enjoyed all the visibility up to now, occupying top management positions and gaining professional reputations. But now, they say, women would have the opportunity to gain more visibility. Finally, they would have the opportunity to become visible professionally and not be perceived as unqualified, instead of being viewed as professionally unqualified objects and reduced to their appearance, as has been the case up to now.

Sure, I understand. And that’s a good thing. But honestly: is that what you do now, by posting selfies that once again focus on women’s appearance and reduce them to that?

If a man points out this type of cutie post, it is immediately equated with the “male gaze,” which sees women—regardless of what they are wearing or how they present themselves—only in a sexualized way. This criticism and observation are justified. But how can bikini or sideboob posts be justified if they have nothing to do with the person’s own texts or professional field?

Occasionally, it is also pointed out that this or that person even got a job as a result. However, most of them do not appear to be truly successful in their careers, as their employment status indicates other professional activities with which they earn their living.

Should someone who finds such cutie posts noteworthy and worthy of discussion Just keep scrolling? Find a new hobby? OK, Boomer—now Gen Z rules, and they do everything perfectly?

I’d say NO. Because even the slightest word that could be perceived as stereotypical or offensive immediately causes outraged users to jump in and tear the perpetrators apart. But we should allow cutie posts because it’s not the people posting them who are crazy, but the viewers?

Rules of Thumb

If the content and image don’t match or simply contribute to a content desert and attention seeking on the LinkedIn career platform, then you have to be prepared to face these questions from others.

Before posting on LinkedIn, you should ask yourself the following questions:

• Will this post help me advance my career?
• Does it highlight my professional skills?
• Is the post valuable to other readers in a professional context?
• Am I creating visibility that is insubstantial?
• Is this the right social media platform for bikini/muscle/yoga/etc. poses?

If the answer to each of these questions, or most of them, is NO, then it’s a sign that you should refrain from posting such content on LinkedIn. There are plenty of other social media platforms where it is welcome.

What do others think?

While the perpetrators feel caught out and offended, reacting hysterically and predictably (“male gaze,” “sexualization,” “We Gen Zers just know how to get attention,” “You’re just jealous”), others view these kinds of LinkedIn posts as well as an avalanche of LinkedIn trash clogging up their feeds.

Here is a LinkedIn post by Sarah Emmerich titled Provocative images are not a LinkedIn content strategy. It’s in German, but use the translation feature from LinkedIn.

And here a video: