Another in the occasional series where I rant a bit about things that infuriate, frustrate, and annoy me. This time, it’s the work-oriented social platform, LinkedIn.

Polls – LinkedIn polls where you choose like, love, are curious or insightful. Why? They’re of no use, have no rigour, and are most likely used to harvest your information to push stuff to you.

Connection requests – Please don’t send blank connection requests. Please don’t tell me you’re interested in connecting because of my ‘insight’, ‘thought leadership’, or ‘daily blogs’ (all 3 recent request reasons) and then spam me with product information and press data you want me to promote for you. My profile says, quite clearly:

Before you just click on the invite button, please make sure you’re telling me why you want to connect. I don’t conduct commercial conversations through LinkedIn so don’t connect if you’re just trying to sell me stuff.

Noise – there is SO MUCH NOISE. I’ve followed Helen Blunden’s lead and now follow about 5 people so, no, I probably haven’t seen your article. If it’s any good, I’ll have seen it amplified via my RSS reader.

Showing off – I won’t be impressed by your post where you mention, along with a photo, dropping off your Ferrari/Porsche/Lamborghini for a service. See also photos with luggage, keyrings, views from hotel rooms or luxury restaurants.

Hashtags – #Addinghashtags to #posts and #articles to #drivetraffic to your #content is both dated and looks #amateur if you’re trying to #target #smartbuyers.

Groups where nothing happens – if you’ve created a group, nurture it, make it worth staying for, and help it grow and thrive. If not, jst delete it and get it out of the way.

Pervasive – I’m both annoyed and slightly bemused that people can develop businesses on LinkedIn that are about developing business on LinkedIn. Services that sell profile authoring and personal branding have always been around – CV design services for example – but to market to people as if to make them an ‘influencer’ feels both wrong and a waste of time and money.

What annoys you about LinkedIn?