if you build a product solely based on what people think they want/need, you will fail.

LinkedIn isn't perfect, but it fills a gap and that's to help find people jobs. If you create another social app but without the incentive of people making posts about w/e the fuck they want to post about it, it's going to be boring and not active.

edit: to be clear, i hate the cringiness of LI as well, but it's a necessary evil.