LinkedIn’s 20 Big Ideas for 2023

If the past few years have proved anything, it’s that life is unpredictable. The world is a precarious place; you never know what’s around the corner. LinkedIn has recently released its annual roundup of the trends and ideas it expects to gain momentum in the coming year. These predictions apparently come from LinkedIn’s ‘Top Voices and creators’, and they range from the monotonously mundane to the outright ridiculous. 

So, how accurate are LinkedIn’s Big Ideas for 2023? I’m no fortune-teller, but some suggestions in the article are too wild and grandiose for the average person to believe. 

The Most Probable 

‘Brace yourself for a global recession – but it won’t be as severe as 2008’s.’

In Britain, we’re already enduring a cost-of-living crisis. Energy prices have risen, general inflation is at an all-time high, and the average cost of a weekly shop has increased at least 10% from this time last year. 

It was, perhaps, expected that a world fighting war and disease would be forced to (literally) pay the price eventually. It might be a comfort to some people to learn that the recession predicted to hit the UK won’t be as devastating as the economic fallout of 2008, but one ‘akin to the recession in the 1990s’. That doesn’t make me feel much better, if I’m honest…I think we’re all just gearing up for a tough year to come. 

‘Retail will get physical again.’

It’s probably true that people miss the experience of shopping in bricks-and-mortar stores and that they may be sick of online ordering after many months spent at home during the pandemic. Physical retail makes for a day out. You also can’t try things on when shopping online, or see an item in all its glory, with your own eyes; physical shopping still has its pluses. 

However, nothing is certain. And I, for one, wouldn’t rush out to sign a three-year lease on a bricks-and-mortar store until I was sure I had the customer base to support it. 

‘The menopause will become big business.’ 

In recent years, the menopause has become less of a taboo topic, after celebrities like Davina McCall have talked openly about their experiences. Davina even hosted a television series dedicated to busting the myths and revealing truths around the menopause. 

Other high-powered celebrities have joined the conversation, including Michelle Obama, Courteney Cox, and Naomi Watts. It can only be so long before companies begin to capitalise on this. Brands like Primark are already producing clothing and accessories designed to ease symptoms of the menopause. 

‘Money will rush into women’s sports.’

After the Lionesses’ triumph at the Women’s Euro Championship earlier in 2022, thousands of little girls across Britain have been inspired to take part in sport. 

Like anything else, once companies realise a trend is starting to take shape, they’ll try and monetise it. There’s no doubt that the sponsorship of sportswomen will be a big thing in 2023. 

‘Social media users will carve out more intimate communities.’

LinkedIn cites platforms such as BeReal, Patreon, and Discord as trendsetters in the tech world, for ‘emphasising community building in private spaces’. Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover appears seconds away from complete disaster, and Instagram influencers just don’t have the same, well, influence they used to have. 

TikTok has gained an incredible amount of traction in the past couple of years, but the real rising stars of the platform are the relatable, ‘real’ people who upload a few funny videos and go viral almost by accident. They have millions of followers, but without the manicured, polished personas and filters associated with Instagram. It makes sense that other platforms are delivering that same verisimilitude, but in an even smaller community setting. 

The Most Unlikely 

‘The metaverse revolution will go professional.’

To put it lightly, the Metaverse is a flop. According to LinkedIn, ‘two of the most prominent metaverse platforms – Decentraland and Sandbox, with valuations of over $1bn each – were revealed to have under 1,000 daily active users’.

The article theorises that AR and VR technology will be used by industries to train pilots and surgeons, which seems perfectly possible. However, we’re a long way off from employees who work from home hanging out in a virtual office, their ‘sim’ having watercooler chats in the metaverse. 

‘We’ll be wearing mushrooms and seaweed.’

This prediction might come true for a few people in 2023, but the vast majority of people will likely go in the opposite direction of sustainability. Shein has been named the most popular fashion brand in the world, overtaking the likes of Zara and Nike. 

Part of the rise of this mass consumerism could be attributed to TikTok. Every other video on your ‘For You Page’ is either shilling a product from the ‘TikTok Shop’, showing off another microtrend, or it’s a blow-by-blow account of a user’s fast fashion haul. Though some people have prioritised sustainable fashion, e.g. shopping second-hand, to reduce their carbon footprint, many have turned a blind eye to the global damage the fashion industry is perpetuating. Wearing clothes made of mushrooms and seaweed won’t be high up on most people’s list of priorities—unless they see it on TikTok first.

‘We'll see a rise in 'vertical' urban farming.’

Another possibility, but one that’s unlikely to achieve significant headway in 2023. 

Concept pictures of vertical agriculture have been around for a while, i.e. farms that look like multi-storey car parks. As the world’s population continues to increase, and given that we have a finite amount of space on the planet, we need to make sure every inch of land is being used effectively.

However, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and there’s only so much progress that can be made in vertical farming within a year. Check back in 2030 for any real development in the sector. 

‘Taxis will take to the skies, for the wealthy.’ 

The rich and famous travel around the globe in their private jets and helicopters; some have even been known to use these expensive and privileged vehicles for incredibly short journeys (cough, the Kardashians, cough). Many celebrities claim that their private jet usage is so high because they also lend them out to their famous friends. 

When it comes to justifying our collective carbon footprint, these celebrities should be the first people we question. We seem a long way from air taxis in the traditional sense. Uber Jets won’t be taking off for some time. 

Anything is possible, and all twenty of LinkedIn’s ‘Big Ideas’ may materialise next year. However, the experts’ 2020 predictions failed to include a global pandemic, so there’s only so much they can foresee. That said, many of the predictions for that year centred on the value of remote working and flexibility, which is something the pandemic achieved.