LinkedIn on the Filipino Vote: #LetLinkedInBePolitical

As someone working in the marketing and creative industry who uses LinkedIn for personal, professional, and educational use, political content on LinkedIn is a familiar sight. There is a continuously ongoing debate about the appropriateness of posting political content on the platform, that is, visual and textual posts expressing political views, advocating for or against a certain political figure, or demonstrating support to a political cause.

Being largely made up of professionals in various fields working in both private and public organizations, the Linkedin community is predominantly composed of stakeholders in the government of their countries — the politics of their countries. It is for this reason that political content in the platform is a recurrent phenomenon.

Politics is loosely defined as actions undertaken in relation to the administration of governments, allocation of resources, and crafting of policies that impact a government unit or domain.

The study of business administration and management cites how politics and other related macro-environmental factors play a vital role in the success of organizations. In strategic management (Escuela de Negocios Europea de Barcelona, n.d.), PEST Analysis, which stands for Political, Economic, Social, and Technological, is a framework for situational study that allows marketing specialists to identify an effective marketing route or produce effective marketing materials in consideration of these external elements. Another iteration of the framework is called PESTEL, with the addition of the Legal aspect. Oxford College of Marketing (n.d.) says that analyses of the political, economic, social, technological, and legal dimensions of the macro-environment of a business or organization are important in identifying threats and opportunities.

Meanwhile, the above-mentioned macro-environmental factors — all heavily political, I might add — directly impact the professional community, from business leaders, employers, and entrepreneurs, to laborers, employees, and freelancers. Political decisions affect employment, foreign policy influences economic stimulation and foreign corporate investment that in turn allow for the creation of jobs, economic development programs or lack thereof challenge wages, decisions toward the education sector affect literacy and qualification, labor sector policies affect availability of opportunities, corruption misdirects government funds that could have been used to address poverty, and responses to crises affect the economy and labour markets. The International Labour Organization (2021), specialized agency of the United Nations, reports comprehensively on Country policy responses, the government policies in revitalizing economy and employment, supporting enterprises, and more importantly, protecting workers vis-a-vis COVID pandemic.

In addition, advocating for honest and adequate public service, good governance unbesmirched by history of corruption, and administrative competence from a clear track record is not so distant from advocating for women’s rights, just wages, environmental conservation, or racial and gender equality. These causes are all political in nature and stigma toward people who express their support to these causes should not exist in a community that was built primarily to motivate growth and development. Backed with sound argument and factual information, professionals then should have the right to freely express and discuss their political views on LinkedIn.

#LetLinkedInBePolitical

References:

Strategic Management (n.d.) Escuela de Negocios Europea de Barcelona. https://campus.eneb.com/pluginfile.php/10686/mod_resource/content/1/SM.M1.pdf

What is a PESTEL Analysis? (n.d.) Oxford College of Marketing. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://blog.oxfordcollegeofmarketing.com/2016/06/30/pestel-analysis/

Country policy responses. (2021) International Labour Organization. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/coronavirus/regional-country/country-responses/lang--en/index.htm#PH