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Before dabbling in football as co-owner of Wrexham AFC, Ryan Reynolds was best known as a movie star playing Deadpool in the franchise inspired by the Marvel comics anti-hero and for taking the lead in films such as Free Guy and The Adam Project. On LinkedIn, Reynolds strips the glitter from his stellar acting experience, wryly describing himself as having a “proven track record” and “delivering consistent results”, deploying the language typically used on the professional networking site by a regional sales manager.
Reynolds’ profile, which has more than 2mn followers, also lists his skills as: “writing, re-writing, tweeting, mixing cocktails, backend engineering software platforms and watching lower-tier Welsh football matches. Proficiency ranges from excellent to absolutely awful.”
He’s far from the only celebrity to build a profile on the premier platform for “thought leaders” (defined by Urban Dictionary as a “bloviating, self appointed douche bag who thinks he/she is an expert”). There’s Mindy Kaling, who diligently lists in her honours and awards section her 2022 Tony award for the musical A Strange Loop. Poor Jennifer Lopez, the singer and actor, has one solitary endorsement for her acting skills — a bit harsh for the star of the sultry Out of Sight and the Golden Globe-nominated Hustlers.
I doubt Jenny from the Block is up at night updating her career experience after a hard day’s work — there’s a team for that. But even so it seems bizarre for celebrities glittering with stardust to rub alongside white-collar workers on the home of some of the cringiest posts in social media. This is a site that is regularly pilloried for braggarts’ accounts of their early-morning routines, supercars and luxury watches.
LinkedIn has made an effort to attract sparkle with its “top voices” badges (a category that also includes conventional entrepreneurs and social activists). Some are invited, and others already have a presence on the platform.
Traditionally, Instagram and Twitter have been a better fit for celebrities, giving actors, sports stars and musicians a chance to broadcast their next gig. Social media accounts are increasingly integral to the brand, says Mark Cowne, chief executive of Kruger Cowne, a talent and speaker agency: “When we come to do book deals, the first thing the publisher says is, ‘What is their following on social media?’ It creates a yardstick over whether they’re more popular than anyone else. Doesn’t mean their followers will buy something. It’s part of the metrics.”
It would be tempting to see LinkedIn’s recent celebrity sparkle as an outcome of Twitter’s decline. But the arrival on LinkedIn started before Elon Musk’s takeover, driven by celebrities’ moves into business. Daniel Roth, editor-in-chief of the platform, says there has been a 37 per cent increase in pro athletes in the past five years showing themselves “in a light in which the public doesn’t often see them”. US footballer Amobi Okugo shares financial advice through his “Frugal Athlete” business. Raphaël Varane plays for Manchester United and is an investor in Kobi, which brings sport into the workplace. On LinkedIn, says Roth, “pro athletes get to talk about things that don’t touch on their on-court or on-field performance. They’re treated like business thinkers, which they love.”
So too celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Alba and Karlie Kloss use the platform for business, taking people behind the scenes of new projects, marketing to potential business partners and investors and consumers. Paltrow positions herself as a leader of a start-up that “empowers women . . . [who are] multi-faceted, complicated and busy b*&tches [sic] who can care about family and work simultaneously”. Most of Reynolds’ profile is devoted to his serial entrepreneurship, including the gin business he sold to Diageo, and his part-ownership of Mint Mobile, the phone company acquired by T-Mobile.
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 £10k 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.
Emma Jacobs is the FT’s work & careers writer. Jo Ellison is away
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