They Have Targets
The species said, “Everyone in Your Timeline Has a Price Tag”
There is a species in my timeline I cannot seem to avoid.
The Linkedinasaurus. You know the one. Every person they meet is a potential node. Every connection has a use case. Every conversation is prospecting dressed up as interest. You can feel it in the comments. You can feel it in the DMs. The warmth is manufactured and the handshake is always reaching for your wallet.
I find it exhausting. More than that, I find it hollow.
But I have to be honest with you, because I paused at the keyboard while writing this and had to think hard about what I actually believe.
The Linkedinasaurus has a philosophy underneath it, even if they have never said it out loud: everyone has value, and that value is something you can extract. They look at people the way a prospector looks at ground. Is there gold in there? How deep do I have to dig?
I hate that.
And then I started thinking about what AI and blockchain are building toward. Verifiable reputation. Credential chains. The ability to show your contribution in ways that are legible, trusted, and traceable. A future where your value as a builder, creator, collaborator, human being is documented and provable.
And I had to stop.
Because that sounds like the Linkedinasaurus with better technology.
The difference is subtle but it matters. The Linkedinasaurus sees value as something to extract from people. The tech-utopian version sees value as something people can demonstrate and own. One is predatory. The other is, in theory, liberating.
But they both start from the same premise. People have a dollar figure attached to them.
I sat with that for a while. I am still sitting with it.
So instead of just pointing at the species and calling for extinction, here are three things actually worth doing.
One. Edit the feed without apology.
Your feed is your choice. Mute the Linkedinasaurus fast and do it often. You are not obligated to consume content from people who treat you as a conversion opportunity. Aggressive feed hygiene is not cynicism. It is self-respect.
Two. Model the opposite.
Post about what you actually made. What you actually think. What broke and what worked. Not what you can offer. Not your services. Not your availability. Show the work and let the connections form around the work. People who find you through the work come for the right reasons.
Three. Keep the pause.
The moment I almost did not post this, the moment I caught myself writing “we can track the value of people” and felt uncomfortable, that pause was the most important thing I did all week. The Linkedinasaurus never pauses. They never look at their own logic and ask whether it differs from what they claim to hate. The pause is not weakness. The pause is what separates a builder with a point of view from a prospector with a profile photo.
The discomfort is information. Do not skip past it.
V> The Linkedinasaurus never pauses. That is the whole problem.