Linkedin for active connections, , a more casual way (vs. email) of contacting someone in your network but you are not super close with for advice, recommendations, and reaching out to potential connections instead of cold calling… it’s great (don’t even think of Facebook friending me for work!).
The news feed however I think is all garbage and is worse than a Facebook feed. I don’t really use any status updates (have tried a few, but there’s only so many platforms that can be updated), and don’t think of commercial promotion and Linkedin as a 'social" network. I don’t really understand people who comment on lots of posts, post non work related things (politics, random articles, etc.) and try use the feed for self overt promotion… Though maybe I’m also doing it wrong.
Don’t get me started on Linkedin groups… all spam, all the time.
R
PS. The non-intuitive UI is also a killer for me, as is how it tries to push you into the app on mobile. The “25 people viewed your profile” with no actual info of who they are (trying to get you to upgrade) is also a constant source of annoyance.