“Is LinkedIn getting too personal?” I was asked.

First, I will agree that highly personal challenges, tearjerkers, pet obituaries and “while I was walking in the park one day” posts are become the rage on LinkedIn, probably due to the sheer numbers of “likes” they get.

But does that make them useful and applicable?

I will give my answer a qualification and my response is peronal-ized:

Yes, If you let it be too personal, then yes, it’s over the top. Ask yourself: do we really need to know this? Can we use it?

BUT what if every personal redemption story of “what happened to me” and “how I beat cancer” and “how I watched my child struggle and persevere” had a universal take-away moral that many of us could apply in business, then I’ll say, “no, it’s not too personal for LinkedIn.”

Second, think before you post please, for the sake of the others who read and learn to appreciate your perspective, not just “like” you and shed a crocodile tear.

The post that gathers the most “likes” doesn’t win. It may seem that way, but is this a popularity contest?

Will the reader remember you for how you helped them later? I doubt it. Just be sure to end your post with what you learned from the situation that affected you. And how we can too.

But without a lesson to learn from your experience and apply to ours, whenever the lesson is actually needed, then yes, it is noise, a shiny penny, a distraction, from what we are here to do: learn from each other.