Your Whole Self on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn can seem to be a dry and sometimes less than interesting place. Why?

We understand the need for LinkedIn to pass through strict business firewalls so employees in more conservative organizations can access profiles and update their statuses during the workday. And it makes sense for there to exist a social media site specifically for professionals to connect with one another. The main problem lies in our collective definition of what “professional” means.

Just as many people can be shy about referencing the books they read, we fear that joining an extra-curricular group or posting an update with more personal feeling may demonstrate a lack of professionalism. The problem with categorizing life into “personal” and “professional” buckets is that we miss out on the beauty that emerges from integrating the two. And splitting the personal from the professional takes precious energy away from managing work tasks, and strips us of our human nature.

So go ahead: join KnitLinked, a group “for anyone who loves to knit and crochet;” attach the link to an article you read about endangered coral reef in the Gulf of Mexico; and broadcast that extra set of tickets you have to Saturday’s football game. Upon careful analysis, you’ll see there are valuable attributes these details indicate about you as a professional.

Now consider: if we collectively revealed more of ourselves via our LinkedIn profiles, the resulting network could be a much more interesting place.

Is there something you’ve considered including in your LinkedIn profile, but which you continue to hold back?