Posting vulnerability on LinkedIn

Abstract

Digital spaces such as LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional digital network, constitute central sites for self-promotion, where job seekers and the employed present their polished “best” professional selves. However, in recent years, LinkedIn members are increasingly publishing accounts that highlight their vulnerabilities and struggles. This article examines the emergence of vulnerability on LinkedIn by analyzing how vulnerability is articulated in a sample of 40 posts (2021–2023). It identifies three genres: (1) Triumph over tragedy: vulnerability as a vector for self-growth and resilience; (2) Snap: vulnerability as a breaking point; and (3) Subversive commentary on self-promotion. On one hand, posting vulnerability on LinkedIn is a strategic form of digital self-branding, which monetizes vulnerability and depoliticizes its meanings. At the same time, vulnerability posts have the potential to form a basis for resistance to digital and work cultures’ glorification of overwork, individualized resilience and self-sufficiency, and the constant pressure to self-promote.