LinkedIn suggested this topic was “popular with my network.” Which always makes me curious. Popular with whom? And why now?

The prompt pointed me toward a post by Chris Donnelly about LinkedIn replacing its ranking system with an AI language model that now reads your content semantically, evaluates your profile, and determines whether you deserve distribution.

He recorded a 19-minute breakdown of what the new environment rewards and what it quietly suppresses. I watched it and took copious notes.

His central thesis is straightforward: LinkedIn has shifted from broad engagement to niche authority.

The platform now reads for coherence. If your content does not reflect your declared expertise, reach is reduced. If your profile signals one thing and your posts drift across unrelated terrain, the system does not know where to place you. And when it cannot place you, it cannot confidently distribute you.

I did not immediately interpret this as “misalignment,” but I have long been curious about something adjacent.

I have watched people post about employee engagement, leadership culture, client retention, strategy execution… topics that sit firmly inside my professional wheelhouse. And I have sometimes felt that subtle irritation when the response to their posts vastly exceeded what mine received, even when the substance felt thinner. It was not envy exactly…it was confusion. A deeper question surfaced for me, about what was being rewarded and why.

Over time, I stopped looking at it through the lens of fairness and started looking at it through the lens of coherence.

Because what I began to notice was not just volume of engagement, but clarity of territory. The creators who were consistently rewarded were not necessarily more brilliant. They were more legible. Their bio, their banner, their headline, their posts, their comments, their offers… all pointed to the same conceptual home. Even when they explored adjacent themes, they did so from a stable center of gravity.

And that is where this intersects with my own work.

In organizations, misalignment rarely announces itself loudly. Marketing signals one promise and operations delivers another reality. Leadership speaks in broad ambition while systems move in narrow increments. Individually, each component looks reasonable. Collectively, the energy disperses. Performance slows…and friction builds in ways that are difficult to name but easy to feel.

LinkedIn, it seems, has evolved into a similar system.

Chris argues that the new algorithm reads your content against your profile and distributes based on semantic consistency. It prioritizes depth, favors educational value and rewards posts that sit firmly within two or three clearly defined themes.

In his framing, the era of posting “a bit of everything” is over. The machine now prefers concentration over range.

What struck me was the pattern.

The platform is effectively asking: does your output match your declared identity?

If your headline says you are an organizational development consultant, but your last ten posts oscillate between morning routines, AI trends, hiring frustrations, and personal reflections, the system struggles to categorize you. Categorization has now become the precursor to authority. Without a defined niche signal, visibility becomes erratic.

In that sense, this is not just about content strategy. It is about congruence.

• When what you say you do and what you consistently talk about diverge, trust weakens.
• When themes scatter, authority resets.
• When your territory is unclear, the market does not know where to anchor you.

So perhaps the shift is less about gaming an algorithm and more about tightening your center.

Audit your last ten posts.

Do they cluster naturally into two or three themes that clearly reflect your sector and your offer? Or do they read like the output of a capable mind that has not yet chosen a home?

The move from broad engagement to niche authority is not a narrowing of intelligence…it is a refinement of identity.

And maybe that is the deeper invitation here.

Not to post more or chase virality, but to ensure that your content, your bio, and your purpose speak the same language.

Because if they do not, you are not being shadow-banned. You are simply indistinct.

Strategic Reflection Prompt

If someone unfamiliar with you read your last ten posts, what would they conclude you actually do—and is that the territory you want to own?

About Giselle

I’m Giselle Hudson — Organization & People Development Sensemaker™, MCODE® Legacy Coach, writer and musician. I help leaders and independent professionals close the gap between strategy and execution by making invisible friction visible, so direction can finally translate into results.

If execution isn’t matching intent and you can’t quite see why, message me on WhatsApp. We’ll start with a brief Clarity Conversation to understand what you’re facing and decide together whether a focused Sensemaking Session is the right next step.