Last week’s LegalESG in NYC was excellent and one particularly surprising point came through: LinkedIn is a primary information source for ESG/sustainability lawyers, practitioners and service providers. I understand the appeal – it’s free, has international coverage and is generally timely (I suspect people compete to “scoop” on posting new developments). This seems like a no-lose proposition, but there are very real costs and risks.
- LinkedIn has an overwhelming amount of ESG/sustainability information, reports and posts, with more added daily 24/7. However, there is no filtering, no way to prioritize or organize it, nor any way to evaluate the quality/credibility of the sources. YOU must do that yourself, taking hours and pulling you down rabbit holes.
- Content includes misinformed marketing material, general light-on-fact articles, misleading headlines and technical academic papers that may be interesting but not practical. The only way to separate the wheat from the chaff is for YOU to read it all, taking time away from other duties and needs.
- Anyone can post and claim to be an “expert” or have significant experience – there are no checks and balances, unless you do your own due diligence on the posters’ background.
- Increasingly, content is written by AI rather than a knowledgeable human.
- Many times, substantive or source content is behind a separate paywall.
- Obtaining more information/reports may require you to provide contact information to third parties. Your inbox then swells with sales and marketing pitches.
- Posting comments or questions frequently turns into arguing or an echo chamber of LinkedIn’s generic pre-populated replies (“Great advice”, “Love this”, “I agree”) rather than helpful responses or suggestions.
- You feed LinkedIn’s AI model with every interaction. Many people are opposed to that.
Essentially, LinkedIn as an ESG/sustainability information resource is like Wikipedia in its early days when anyone could freely add/edit information, leaving other users of unknown expertise to edit, add and change as freely as they wish with no guardrails, verification or controls.
You can find credible and useful information with LinkedIn, but you have to invest time in filtering and validating it. Yet with PracticalESG, you don’t. We do that for you. Our job is to make your job easier and more efficient. Simplicity, reliability and practicality are at the heart of what we offer.
- We filter, evaluate and curate scores of information sources globally, ranging from mass media to law firm alerts, regulatory announcements, NGO publications, industry associations and beyond, so you don’t have to.
- Credible and practical content is organized into searchable Subject Areas, allowing you to find relevant vetted guidance quickly.
- Our editorial staff, Advisory Board and guest contributors are senior practitioners, giving members the benefit of decades of master-level experience in the subjects covered in an efficient and highly cost-effective way.
- We do not use AI or bots to find, filter, review, analyze or write our content.
- Our resources are proven practical tools such as checklists, guidebooks, podcasts and webcasts.
- At no additional cost, members can post anonymous questions on our Q&A Forum, which are answered by PracticalESG.com staff and external experts generally within 24-48 hours – minimizing cost and wait time for advice. You get real answers – no arguing, generic “love-fest” responses or emojis.
- A growing library of sample disclosures for regulatory mandates, annotated with guidance and insights from legal, technical and auditor perspectives as starting points to help you develop robust disclosure documents quickly and efficiently – saving real time and money.
If you aren’t already a PracticalESG.com member, sign up now and take advantage of our no-risk “100-Day Promise” – during the first 100 days as an activated member, you may cancel for any reason and receive a full refund. However, it will likely pay for itself before then.
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