BEWARE THE FAKES
Many accounts are obvious fakes, like Cristiano Ronaldo, based in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, who lists his employer as Real Madrid, a football club the real Ronaldo left five years ago.
I hope that former Arsenal captain Per Mertesacker is real. His profile highlights his “excellent leadership skills as senior figure at club” earning him the responsibility of overseeing the “club’s strict penalties on player behaviour”, once fining “Nacho Monreal £10,000 (US$12,700) for wearing a poncho on match day”.
Perhaps what the presence of stars on LinkedIn represents is the new mundanity of celebrity culture. Mark Borkowski, a PR agent, says stars such as “Richard Burton in the 1960s were known for their charismatic and often rebellious personalities. They were cultural icons who embraced a more flamboyant and turbulent lifestyle. Today’s celebrities are different, they tread safer territory. The world has gone corporate.” As far as social media goes, LinkedIn is a pretty safe space.
It is a peculiarity of our times, notes Jenna Drenten, associate professor of marketing at Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business, that as social media has shortened the distance between stars and normies, “celebrities have become more mundane while so-called regular people have become more glamorous”. Influencers can become famous for curating a lifestyle vibe on Instagram.
Yet LinkedIn, with its humblebraggers and just straight-out braggers, will not win over everyone. I asked a friend who works with sports stars whether he would advise them to go on LinkedIn. His answer was blunt: “I detest LinkedIn with a furious passion.” No, in other words.
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