• by Shirley Marschall , Featured Contributor, July 1, 2025

We’re not writing for people anymore. We’re performing for algorithms.

Take a stroll through LinkedIn, and you’ll see it: smart professionals jumping through awkward hoops just to be seen. Liking their own posts. Holding back external links. Writing “link in comments” like it’s a secret handshake to trick the machine.

And here’s the thing — it is a trick. But it’s a terrible one.

The “Link in Comments” Illusion

It’s hard to think of a more cringe-inducing phrase than “link in comments.” It’s become the unofficial slogan of algorithm anxiety. Supposedly, adding a link directly into your post will tank your reach. So what do we do? Bury the actual content we want people to read somewhere less visible. Just to appease the algorithm.

It makes no sense.

From Marketing 101 to UX 101, we all know that every extra click is a chance to lose someone. The more friction, the lower the engagement. That’s not theory — that’s basic human behavior. But suddenly, we’re pretending that the best way to share an article is by hiding it?

Chances your post will get more impressions? Maybe.

Chances someone will actually scroll, open the comments, find the link, and click it? Slim.

So we’re boosting visibility while killing intent. We’re choosing numbers on a dashboard over impact in the real world.

From Human Communication to Platform Performance

This isn’t just about links. It’s about how algorithmic pressure shapes our behavior across the board.

We contort our content to please the machine:

•   Adding three lines of white space before the “real” post starts.

•   Including a hook that sounds like clickbait.

•   Not posting too often, or too little.

•   Asking a question, even if you don’t actually want an answer.

We’re not communicating — we’re gaming. And the result is a weird, soulless sea of sameness. Everyone starts to sound the same, post the same, structure their content the same way. Even the most thoughtful voices begin to feel mechanical.

Who Are We Even Talking To?

It’s easy to forget the actual audience: people.

Real humans, scrolling through their feeds, looking for something worth their time.

But when we optimize for algorithms, we often end up undermining the very thing we’re trying to achieve — attention, connection, trust.

Even worse: we don’t really know what works. LinkedIn’s algorithm is a black box. We all pretend we’ve cracked it, but it changes constantly, and no one really knows. So we mimic what others do. We imitate the imitations. And suddenly we’re deep in a feedback loop of performative posting, unsure why anything does or doesn’t take off.

Back to Human Sense

There’s nothing wrong with wanting reach. But what if we tried a different approach — one rooted in human logic rather than algorithmic speculation?

What if we prioritized:

•   Clarity over cleverness

•   Frictionless access over forced discovery

•   Quality content over tactical formatting

What if we trusted that people — the actual end users — care more about what we have to say than how the platform decides to boost it?

Stop Performing, Start Communicating

Algorithms aren’t going anywhere. But neither is human instinct. And right now, the gap between the two is widening.

It’s tempting to chase visibility. But we shouldn’t do it at the expense of usability. Or integrity. Or basic sense.

So maybe it’s time to stop playing by rules no one understands.

And start posting like people are actually listening.

Because they are — if we stop making them dig for the link. And eventually the black box algorithm will follow humans, instead of the other way around.