LinkedIn in 2024: my honest review and what’s coming next

This post was written at the end of 2024 as a review of the year on LinkedIn and a look ahead to 2025.

Last week I was at LinkedIn HQ in London. The front of the building is closed for renovation - I won't say more than that, only my clients know what's happening inside. What I can tell you is that the new building will include a seriously impressive amphitheatre.

It felt like a fitting place to reflect on a year that's been genuinely interesting on LinkedIn. The platform has come a long way from its job-searching roots. In 2024 it's a place to build a community, grow a brand, and win new business - when you use it properly.

Here's my honest take on how the year went.

Lead generation on LinkedIn is harder than it was

After three successful years of generating consistent incoming enquiries from LinkedIn, my leads dropped 60% in 2024. That's a significant number and I'm not going to dress it up.

The reasons aren't mysterious. The platform passed one billion users this year, which means more noise, more competition for attention, and more people posting. It also means more second-rate LinkedIn coaches and personal branding operators exaggerating their six-figure wins and convincing people to invest in them based on numbers that don't hold up to scrutiny.

You can't control any of that. What you can control is writing better content, leaning harder into referrals, making sure your website is doing its job, and building a personal newsletter that keeps you in front of the right people without depending on an algorithm.

If your LinkedIn lead generation has gone quiet, you're not imagining it. But the answer isn't to abandon the platform. It's to get better at using it. The LinkedIn training I run covers exactly this.

Community is where LinkedIn still delivers

While leads were down, the community side of LinkedIn was the best it's ever been for me. Referrals came in from people I've spent years helping - speaking opportunities in membership groups, introductions to new clients, recommendations from people who know my work.

This is why the long game matters. Spend time helping others. Give first. Build real relationships rather than chasing numbers. You gain a sense of belonging that makes business genuinely more enjoyable, and the commercial returns follow, just not always immediately.

Hashtags are no longer worth your time

I liked hashtags. Three to five per post worked well for years. In 2024 that changed - hashtags have become largely irrelevant on LinkedIn, and continuing to use them the way you used to is mostly wasted effort.

I think it's a missed opportunity on LinkedIn's part, but there it is. Focus that energy elsewhere.

LinkedIn is finally dealing with spam

Most people I speak to are exhausted by the volume of bad sales pitches landing in their LinkedIn inboxes. When I was in San Francisco with LinkedIn earlier this year, they told me they were taking it seriously - and the evidence suggests they meant it.

Accounts have been cleaned up. Fake profiles have been removed. People using automation tools and engagement pods are finally being suspended. It's progress, and it's overdue. LinkedIn works best as a platform for genuine human connection, and the spam problem was undermining that badly.

AI on LinkedIn isn't working yet

This is the part of 2024 I've found most frustrating. AI-generated messages in LinkedIn DMs are easy to spot and almost universally ineffective. ChatGPT isn't good enough at sales to replace the human judgement and genuine personalisation that actually gets responses.

My honest view is that the people building these AI tools could benefit from proper sales training before they ship them. If you want to understand where AI does and doesn't fit in a modern sales process, I've shared my thinking on this in a LinkedIn post that's worth a read.

Vertical video is changing the LinkedIn feed

After a decade of horizontal video, vertical videos started appearing in the LinkedIn feed in the latter part of 2024. The reason is straightforward - LinkedIn is responding to the growth of YouTube and TikTok, where vertical format dominates.

Right now the vertical video feed is mostly influencers and big names. I'd like to see more everyday business owners in there. If you're comfortable on camera, it's worth experimenting with while most people are still sitting on the side lines.

What LinkedIn looks like in 2025

LinkedIn remains the best platform for B2B, and I don't see that changing. The algorithm will keep shifting, the noise will keep increasing, and the people who show up consistently with genuine value will keep winning.

One thing I'd love to see more of is LinkedIn-sponsored events that bring people together in person. Salesforce does this brilliantly with Dreamforce every September - thousands of people from around the world, all in one place. LinkedIn has the scale to do something similar, and I think it would strengthen the community side of the platform enormously.

In the meantime, Uplift Live - the only UK conference dedicated entirely to LinkedIn, run by John Espirian, Gus Bhandal and Jeremy Freeman - took place in Birmingham in March 2025 and was exactly the kind of event the LinkedIn community needs more of. If it runs again, go.

If you want to hit the ground running on LinkedIn, the LinkedIn masterclass I ran with Corina Goetz is still available and worth your time.

To find out how I can help you or your business get better results, take a look at the coaching programmes or get in touch directly.