I’ve seen a lot of back and forth discussions about the new LinkedIn Open Groups. A lot of the negatives that I see people mentioning is that this will further encourage spammers to post promotions and add little value to discussions. Here’s why I opened my groups.
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The LinkedIn Light Bulb is Flickering
Here is what I used to believe. I believed that protecting the value of your network required that you know or have plans to get to know those that you were connected to. I believed that it only made sense to add new connections as I met people within my chamber or other offline networking. Since my prospects are in Georgia I believed that there was limited value in connecting to other outside of the state. I was wrong.
I’m Growing Fond of LinkedIn Groups
It’s been almost a year since I started the North Fulton Business Group on LinkedIn. When I first created the group I looked at the functionality available, and other than a member having the ability to view additional profiles with a common interest, there really wasn’t much else. You couldn’t even search groups. Most people […]
Why Do People Join LinkedIn Groups?
Back in the old days, pre group discussions or a searchable group directory (less than a year ago), there wasn’t much value in groups. Sure they helped you see other members outside of your network. You could contact those members, but there really wasn’t a significant way to interact and build community.
I finally resorted to creating a non-LinkedIn site to provide that sense of community for one group (www.northfultonbg.com). With the addition of the searchable directory and the discussions features the equation changed. Now you can interact with others. The problem is that few people are participating.