- LinkedIn is a professional social media platform for normies, but now celebrities want in too.
- Stars like Ryan Reynolds and Gwyneth Paltrow are showing off their business side on the platform.
LinkedIn has typically been viewed as a platform for regular white-collar nine-to-fivers bragging about their latest promotion or slyly looking for another job on the side, or for entrepreneurs looking to share business tips, but in recent years it's attracted celebrities and stars trying to show off their business acumen.
One of the most notable examples of this is Ryan Reynolds, an actor and businessman, with over two million followers on LinkedIn who describes his decades in the film industry as a "proven track record" of "delivering consistent results."
Reynolds, famous for playing the lead role in the 2016 movie Deadpool, is also part owner of Mint Mobile which was recently acquired by T-Mobile. The actor is now making an "attempt" at being a "9-to-5 professional," according to his profile.
"In recent years, I've built what The Wall Street Journal recently called 'a business empire.' Still trying to figure out what they meant by that," he added.
"My skills include writing, re-writing, tweeting, mixing cocktails, backend engineering for software platforms, and watching lower-tier Welsh football matches. Proficiency ranges from excellent to absolutely awful."
Reynolds's posts include promoting Mint Mobile and his other business ventures, such as ownership of Welsh soccer team Wrexham. He's not the only celebrity to do so with Mindy Kaling, Jennifer Lopez, and Gwyneth Paltrow also making an effort to blend into the professional world of LinkedIn.
Social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter were traditionally a better fit for celebrities to make themselves relatable to the public, but they've now had to find other ways to differentiate themselves and keep their star power.
"Celebrities have become more mundane while so-called regular people have become more glamorous," Jenna Drenten, associate professor of marketing at Chicago's Quinlan School of Business told the Financial Times, referring to influencers who promote a glamorous lifestyle on social media.
Stars like "Richard Burton in the 1960s were known for their charismatic and often rebellious personalities," Mark Borkowski, a PR agent explained to the FT.
"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."
LinkedIn's editor-in-chief Daniel Roth told the FT that there's also been a 37% increase in pro athletes on the platform in the past five years including soccer player Amobi Okugo and French football player Raphaël Varane.
Okugo recently took to the platform saying he believes "every athlete should be on LinkedIn."