The algorithm has made us all boring

When I was a young boy, I used to get Xmas and birthday money from my grandparents.

It was about the only time I had money or could buy toys during the year.

I’m not going to plead poverty. It was far from that. Can anyone who grew up in south-east England actually claim they were poor?

But with one single teacher’s salary supporting a family of 5 children (I’m the 2nd youngest) and not even a car, let’s just say most of my childhood was lived in hand me down clothes with Beans on Toast and Angel Delight a regular meal!

Yes we went everywhere via bus or train!

So, 'let’s just say that £25 birthday money was pretty important to me.

Up until about age 10, my favourite place to spend it was Robert Sayle (a department store that is a branch of John Lewis), Cambridge.

The toy department was a treasure trove of what appeared to me to be randomly selected items.

And the lego aisle was mesmerising as a young boy who used to fall to sleep dreaming of the latest sets with a lego catalogue by my head.

So what does this have to do with the algorithm?

This isn’t just a nostalgic commentary on my childhood, but a reflection on how algorithms have taken the fun out of our lives.

You see, I never quite knew what sets I’d be able to buy or which sets I may find reduced in the sale.

It always seemed they stocked really cool but random lego sets, sometimes rare ones like this one I bought in 1988

It wasn’t the most popular set at the time, but at just £14.95, it was just within reach for me and became one of my most played with sets.

In the world of social media and the post Amazon revolution era, everything has been pre selected for us based on a dulling mix of demography, popularity and price.

It’s all about best sellers, SEO and number of 5 star reviews. We’re being channeled towards mediocrity and standardisation in everything we do.

How often do you buy coffee in 2024 from anywhere but Costa or Starbucks? Everything has become the same.

And as I read the latest LinkedIn algorithm report, which I admit I had been eagerly anticipating ahead of its release earlier this month, I soon got bored.

Check it out …here (or don’t if you want to stay different)

Richard does a fantastic job on this btw, and I do think if you want to grow on any social media platform, you should spend time understanding the game before playing it.

But in nutshell, if we all followed the latest rules of the algorithm, we’d all be posting:

• the same content

• at the same time every day

• with a similar hook

• the same number of words

• a similar call to action

It’s how LinkedIn has become boring.

So, for example.

I know video content doesn’t ever get much traction on LinkedIn. That’s exactly why I’m going to create more if it myself. So I can stand out.

Of course, I could just take Justin Welsh style templates or adopt the written one at the moment that’s constantly on repeat:

Hook, (bracketed text), disclaimer, a few brief lines, further disclaimer, Give this a repost.

But I’d far rather stick pins in my eye.

Let’s Mix things up.

Be different.

Be less bland.

Let’s just find the fun in variation again. Who’s with me?