Well done, me!

Who did well? I did!

I’d like to discuss the phenomenon of liking your own posts on LinkedIn – adding some kind of reaction to a post of your own.

Self-likes are rare, but they do happen.

I doubt people are trying to mark a post for themselves, as if to say, ‘What a marvellous post I’ve written – a sight to behold. I think I’ll mark it out from all the others.’ That seems unlikely. How would they find that mark later? LinkedIn has other tools for that – you can save the post to ‘Saved items’ or pin it to ‘Featured’.

Most likely, people like their own posts because they think it will increase their reach. I’m afraid they’ll be disappointed. That approach works if you repost your own post, but not if you like it.

A quote from an analysis of LinkedIn’s 2024 algorithms based on statistics: ‘Reposting strategy – sharing your post again on the second day can increase engagement by roughly 20% on that day and the next. Liking your own post, however, has no noticeable effect.’

To keep this post about self-likes from being nothing more than a bit of Friday hot air, here’s a question to ponder: if liking your own post has no effect, why does LinkedIn allow it? Why is the option there at all? Why not prevent self-likes at system level?

In the photo: His Royal Highness, our illustrious King Julien XIII, self-proclaimed Lord of the Lemurs, et cetera. Hooray, everybody!

P.S. Do you think I should like this post myself, just for fun?