“How can you read that fast?”
It was the late 90s, and the co-founder of the company was reading over my shoulder. I was a corporate librarian at a time when people would ask questions like “can you print the website out for me?”
Martha watched as I scanned dozens of pages of Lexis-Nexis results scrolling by at an improbable pace.
”I can’t. I’m looking for numbers.”
That’s basically the story. I stopped scrolling when I found some likely-looking numbers detailing a bank merger or some such. Martha got her info and walked away happy.
I recalled that Ask the Librarian session this morning when my LinkedIn account was suspended for a second time.
I’ve used LinkedIn for more than thirteen years. For most of that time, I had around 200 followers. They were mainly people I knew or had met personally. In 2020, I started posting more about climate justice issues. My follower count more than quintupled.
I didn’t understand the first suspension. The notice language was broad, but it centered on viewing profiles so often that it appeared I had used “automated tools”. Further infractions could result in permanent suspension. I thought it was a bullshit charge, and that my content had somehow upset the algorithm. This time, though, I noticed what I was doing when LinkedIn logged me out: Refreshing.
One of my LinkedIn usage traits is that I refresh my own profile’s Activity/Posts page constantly. This lets me gauge impression numbers on multiple posts at the same time. Are impressions still rising, and at what rate? I edit most every post after publication, and I’m more likely to tweak posts that need a boost. Maybe the post needs a better graphic, or an animated GIF. All of this activity is good for me and readers (my first drafts are often duds), but not-so-good for LinkedIn servers having to respond every time I click. They were basically asking how I could read so quickly.
I was a paid subscriber for a long time, and I didn’t get any such notices then. However, I’m not interested in subscribing at the moment, so it’s possible that my thirteen-plus years on the platform are coming to an end. I’ll try to keep my Refresh habit in check now that my eight-hour suspension is up. However, suspensions happen in an instant, so any post might be the last. Whee.
Anyway, thanks for bookmarking this site. Regardless of what happens, I’ll be posting less on LinkedIn, and posting new stuff here first.
We should talk about this.