How LinkedIn’s new algorithm is joining the trend of authenticity in the age of AI

People are sick of the endless ads. The sales talk that tries to sound relatable. The five paragraph posts that don’t really amount to anything meaningful. And nowhere has that been more prevalent than on LinkedIn over the past few years.

But now things are shifting. LinkedIn, like many other platforms, has realised that people are craving authenticity. Their new algorithm is arguably the biggest change that the platform has undergone; a fundamental rethink of how professional content is ranked, rewarded and read. And ironically, it’s being powered by AI to prioritise human content.

The LinkedIn of old

LinkedIn has, until now, been a platform built around corporations and, realistically, people looking for jobs. Company pages were the currency of professional credibility, where people could broadcast their career achievements, post job ads and publish content that looked and sounded like a brand. The priority was on business, and the metrics that mattered (likes, followers and post frequency) were mostly superficial. 

But this version of LinkedIn has long been exploited by clickbait and keyword-stuffed posts may look like they get engagement, but actually lack any real meaning. 

For many users, especially those in B2B, LinkedIn has become a place of performance, rather than connection. And that’s what’s led a lot of people to turn away from it.

So what’s changed?

In late 2025 and into early 2026, LinkedIn rolled out the most significant overhaul of its feed since the platform was founded. At the centre of the change is a new AI model called 360Brew, a 150-billion-parameter system developed by LinkedIn’s Foundation AI Technologies team, trained exclusively on LinkedIn’s own data: profiles, posts, professional interactions, and job descriptions.

The name ‘360’ references the holistic view that LinkedIn now wants to take by looking not just at your posts, but your entire professional presence; your profile, network, comments and history. Meanwhile, ‘Brew’ brings it all together into one, blended algorithm that doesn’t count data, but actually *reads* it.

Rather than measuring how many people liked your post, 360Brew evaluates whether the content you’re posting is actually relevant to you, your profile and your profession. It wants to know whether you’re genuine and consistent, and if the people seeing it are the right audience for it. This new approach means that a post that gets three thoughtful comments now outperforms one that gets thirty likes. Content is ranked not just by what it says, but by whether the person saying it has any real authority to say it.

1. Personal profiles are now more important than company pages

The biggest change is that company pages are no longer the priority on LinkedIn. With posts from them now only reaching around 1-2% of followers, and company content accounting for roughly 1-2% of the overall LinkedIn feed, down from 7% in 2021, personal profiles are now the focus.

This shift has happened because LinkedIn wants to treat personal posts as a sign of authenticity, with company posts acting in support of that content.

But this doesn’t mean everyone has to suddenly become an influencer, it just means that when you post, it should be personal and relevant to your actual work. Like a designer posting about the process behind their latest brand project, rather than sharing why their Sunday walk made them reflect on the current economy.

2. Your profile is working, even when you’re not

Your headline, About section, experience, and posting history now form what LinkedIn treats as a ‘professional expertise signal’. The algorithm cross-references your claimed identity against what you actually post about, constantly.

So, if your headline says one thing and your posts say another, 360Brew reads that as incoherence – and will limit your reach. If your profile and your content tell the same story consistently, the algorithm builds what it calls a semantic fingerprint for you, and starts directing your posts to the right audience.

3. Quality over quantity 

LinkedIn is now rewarding exactly the kind of professional behaviour people already value: credibility, consistency and clarity. One good quality post a month, relevant to you and your network, is better than three generic, meaningless posts a day. 

This is because engagement depth now matters far more than engagement volume, with metrics like saves, thoughtful comments, and time spent reading being prioritised over likes or follows. 

The wider context: Why LinkedIn’s made this change

LinkedIn’s algorithm change comes at a time where people are increasingly becoming tired of what the online spaces and social media platforms have become.

Don’t get us wrong: AI *is* a great tool, even we can admit that as designers. But fundamentally, you still have to know what good looks like, and strike a balance. Creatives have long been tired of the so-called ‘AI slop’, as revealed in the latest State of Creativity Survey, but it seems the rest of the world is catching on. 

In 2025, brands began labelling their work ‘100% human’ and ‘no AI’ as a response to the overindulgence in AI-generated content.  The Association of National Advertisers even named both ‘authenticity’ and ‘agentic AI’ as their joint Words of the Year for 2025, which captures the polarisation right now pretty aptly. 

Brands like Dove, Equinox, Aerie, and BMW have already made this part of their public positioning; actively calling out AI inauthenticity in their campaigns and positioning human creativity as a differentiator. 

The anti-AI sentiment isn’t a niche, it’s becoming mainstream brand strategy. And LinkedIn’s new algorithm is just a small cog in that movement.

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