LinkedIn Crying Selfie / #Vulnerabilities

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About

Linkedin Crying Selfie or #Vulnerabilities refers to a series of posts on LinkedIn where users share a crying selfie along with a comedic description of why they're crying. The posts are parodies of a post made by HyperSocial CEO Braden Wallake in August 2022 where he announces layoffs and shares a crying selfie. While some showed support for the post, others criticized Wallake's approach, inspiring the parodies.

Origin

On August 10th, 2022, HyperSocial CEO Braden Wallake made a post on LinkedIn^[1] sharing a crying selfie and a long caption about how he had to lay off some employees recently. He writes, "This will be the most vulnerable thing I'll ever share," and goes on to describe how the layoffs were his fault, not the fault of the economy, writing, "I made a decision in February and stuck with that decision for far too long. Now, I know my team will say that ;we made that decision together', but I lead us into it. And because of those failings, I had to do today, the toughest thing I've ever had to do." He ends the post, "I can't think of a lower moment than this." The post gained over 32,000 reactions, 6,700 comments and 570 shares in a day (shown below, click to expand).

Wallake received both support for his "vulnerable" post and criticism, with some seeing the post as self-centered, a desperate attempt to appeal to people's emotions and for not highlighting the specific people he laid off. For example, Linkedin^[2] user Kevin Nass commented, "How about using your network to help those employees find new jobs by tagging them and putting them in the spotlight, as opposed to whining about making difficult decisions as a leader and posting a crying selfie? This is one of the most out-of-touch posts I’ve seen in a long time," gaining over 400 likes in a day. Manuel Arnao wrote, "That selfie, geez. A little restraint might be good," gaining over 160 likes.^[3]

Shortly after making the post, Wallake shared the LinkedIn^[9] profile for Noah Smith, one of the laid-off employees, as a comment, encouraging others to hire him.

Spread

The post inspired parodies across LinkedIn as users posted their own crying selfies with comedic captions, written as if they were making an emotional announcement. The posts often use the hashtag "#vulnerabilities." For example, on August 10th, LinkedIn^[4] user Drew M. posted a crying selfie with a caption reading, "Taco Tuesday was a bad choice," garnering over 17,600 reactions and 1,000 comments in under 24 hours (shown below).

The post by Wallake received significant media attention, including stories by Newsweek,^[5] Global News,^[6] Vice^[7] and Mashable.^[8] The story also went viral on Twitter.^[10]^[11]