Comment Examples6 min read
How to Write Thoughtful LinkedIn Comments for a Colleague
How to write thoughtful LinkedIn comments for a colleague: the one detail that makes praise land, sixteen examples by occasion, and the lines to stop using.
By Atul Jha, Software engineer, Apna Project
The short version
- A thoughtful comment about a colleague names something only a coworker would know. Praise that any stranger could have written reads as obligation.
- Write to the room, not to the person. Your colleague already knows what they did. The comment is telling everyone else.
- Say one thing, not four. A comment listing every quality someone has sounds like a performance review, not a compliment.
- Avoid the accidental slight. Impressive for someone at your level and finally getting recognised both land worse than you think.
- This is the one category where we tell our own users to write it themselves. AI drafts are weakest exactly where the specifics come from working alongside someone.
When they ship something
We argued about the second version of this for two weeks. You were right, and the search flow is much better for it.
The part that does not show in the screenshots is how much of this was cleanup of the old system. Great to see it live.
Congratulations on the launch. The onboarding copy is doing a lot of quiet work here and I know you wrote every line of it.
Notice the shape. One detail a colleague would know, then one sentence of point. Nobody needs a fourth line.
When they post something vulnerable
Layoffs, burnout, a project that failed publicly. This is where hollow comments do actual damage, because everyone can tell.
This is a generous thing to write publicly. For anyone reading who worked with them: they are the person who stays calm when a release goes sideways.
Sorry you are going through this. Happy to talk to anyone who is considering hiring them, and I mean that as a standing offer, not a formality.
Thank you for saying the quiet part. I remember that quarter differently now.
Do not add a silver lining they did not ask for. Do not make it about your own similar experience. If you can help concretely, say what the help is.
When it is their first post, or they are new
New posters check their comment count obsessively, and one good comment is what makes them post again.
Good first one. The bit about the pricing objection is the part I would expand into its own post.
Welcome to the team, and welcome to posting. Both are improvements.
This is a better take than most of what I read on this topic today, and you have been here three weeks.
For the joining case specifically, welcome to the team comments covers the version you leave under a company announcement.
When it is a work anniversary
The occasion with the highest ratio of comments to meaning. One specific memory rescues it.
Five years. Three of them sitting next to me while you patiently explained the billing system to everyone who asked. Congratulations.
Happy anniversary. The team norm of writing the decision down before the meeting is yours, and it outlasted two reorgs.
More on that pattern in work anniversary comments.
The lines to cut
"Impressive for someone at your level." Meant kindly, reads as a ceiling.
"Finally getting the recognition you deserve." Implies your employer was wrong, which puts your colleague in the middle of a fight they did not start.
"So proud of you." Fine from a mentor, odd from a peer, and strange from anyone more junior.
"Great post!" with an emoji. This is attendance, not a comment, and it dilutes every comment you leave afterwards.
Anything with an inside joke. The three people who get it will smile. The eighty who do not will scroll, and your colleague loses reach.
Tagging four other coworkers. It turns a moment into a group chat and readers can spot a coordinated thread instantly.
The one category we tell our users to write themselves
We build Commenti, which drafts LinkedIn comments with AI, so it would be convenient for us to say the tool handles this. It does not, and we are direct with users about it.
Comments about people you actually work with depend on information that lives nowhere on the internet: the argument you had in March, the thing they fixed that nobody noticed, the deadline they absorbed quietly. A model working from the post text can produce something warm and correct and completely generic, which is precisely the failure mode that makes a colleague's post look like it was engagement-farmed by their own team.
So the product exists for the other ninety percent, the daily commenting on posts by people you want to reach and do not yet know, where a good draft saves you real time. Colleagues, close friends, condolences, and anything about someone's hard week are the cases we would rather you wrote by hand, and our approve mode exists so nothing goes out on those without you reading it. The tiers are built around 20-60 comments a day precisely because the volume is meant to be spent on strangers, not on the twelve people you sit with.
If you want the general craft rather than the colleague-specific version, examples of good LinkedIn comments is the piece to read next.
Frequently asked questions
What should I comment on a colleague's LinkedIn post?
Name the specific thing you saw them do, and say what it changed. One sentence of detail beats a paragraph of adjectives. If you were involved, say so briefly and give them the credit rather than sharing it, since the comment is about their moment, not your proximity to it.
Is it unprofessional to compliment a coworker on LinkedIn?
Not at all, as long as it is accurate and proportionate. Public praise from someone who worked with the person carries real weight with recruiters and clients reading later. What reads badly is exaggeration, inside jokes that exclude readers, and anything that sounds like it was assigned by your employer.
How long should a comment about a colleague be?
Two or three sentences is plenty. LinkedIn collapses comments after a couple of lines, so a long tribute mostly hides behind a see more link. Put the specific detail first, then the point, and stop. Short and precise beats long and general nearly every time.
Should I comment on every post my coworkers make?
No. Commenting on everything makes your comments worthless, and it starts to look like an internal engagement pod, which readers recognise quickly. Comment when you have something real to add, and use a reaction for the rest. Selective praise is the only kind that carries information.
Written by the team building Commenti on real LinkedIn growth data. Found an error? Tell us and we’ll fix it. Accuracy beats winning.
Software engineer, Apna Project
Builds software at Apna Project and is a 3x certified Salesforce developer. Writes here on the measurement side of LinkedIn: what moves reach, what does not, and how to tell the difference. Commenti is the LinkedIn comment automation tool by Ampliflow.
Writing a thoughtful LinkedIn comment for a colleague is harder than commenting on a stranger's post, which is the opposite of what people expect. With a stranger you can just react to the argument. With a colleague there is history, office politics, and a real person who will read whatever you write in the kitchen tomorrow.
The mistake almost everyone makes is reaching for warmth when the thing that actually lands is precision. Here is the test we use, the examples by occasion, and the phrases worth retiring.
The test: could a stranger have written it?
If the comment could have been left by someone who has never met your colleague, it is not a thoughtful comment. It is a reaction with more words.
"Congratulations, well deserved" passes nobody's test. "You rebuilt the onboarding flow twice because you were not happy with the first version, and support tickets dropped by half" could only come from someone who was there.
The specific detail is the whole gift. It is also the part that keeps working after the moment passes, because a recruiter reading that thread in eight months learns something real about your colleague instead of watching people applaud.
A second test, quieter but just as useful: are you writing to your colleague or to the room? They already know what they did. Everyone else does not. Write for the readers who were not in the building.
When they get promoted or move roles
Skip the adjective pile. Name the work.
If you want more on that occasion specifically, what to comment on a promotion post has a wider set, and well deserved as a phrase is worth reading if it is your default opener.