Social Media vs. Social Network and LinkedIn Forgot Which One It Was Built to Be

LinkedIn was built as a social network but now runs like a social media platform - optimised for attention rather than connection. Hurdle is built the other way around.

Every time someone tells us Hurdle feels different from LinkedIn, it usually comes down to one thing: LinkedIn stopped being a network and started being a feed.

There's a real distinction between the two, and it's one we think about constantly. A social network is built around connection — people you actually know, or want to know, in a context that matters to you. A social media platform is built around attention — content optimized to keep you scrolling, whether or not it has anything to do with your actual professional life.

LinkedIn launched as the former. Somewhere along the way, particularly as it chased engagement metrics, it drifted hard into the latter — and anyone job-hunting, changing careers, or just trying to have an honest conversation about a hard professional moment has felt that shift.

We wrote about this in more depth for Brainz Magazine - what actually separates a network from a platform, and why the distinction isn't just semantic. Read the full article on Brainz Magazine.

It's also a big part of why Hurdle exists. We didn't want to build another feed — we wanted to build a network in the original sense. Join the Hurdle waitlist.

Written by Nathaniel McAllister Founder of Hurdle. Building a peer support community for people navigating career change, burnout, and redundancy — after experiencing that gap firsthand. Connect on LinkedIn