One of my earlier posts was about LinkedIn and how in Australia, it’s relatively quiet.
Now my opinion of this is still the same, as I have been more active than ever, but still notice that the “chatter” through LinkedIn still mainly consists of new connections and recommendations.
The only real trend I see slightly poking its head up is that more and more people are syndicating their twitter feed through it. This is kinda nice as it gives it more of a “lived in” feeling with peoples updates coming through more regularly.
But this isn’t the reason why I’m writing this post.
I know they’ve been around a while, and I’ve been members of them for the longest time (yet seldom participated), but I’ve come to realise that LinkedIn groups, are terrific. There’s nothing special or different about these groups and there’s really only 2 types, Open and Members-Only. They are formed based on literally anything (group, idea, company, industry) by LinkedIn members, referred to as managers, and feature only the most basic of moderation tools. At its core, these groups are just a place for like-minded people to ask a question, write an answer, or share something they think is of value.
For me, they’ve been a valuable source of information, given me ideas for my blog, and helped with strategies for my clients. The better groups bring up debatable topics which either enforce what you’re doing in the first place or make you re-think your decision. They are generally fun to throw in your 2 cents worth and the past 3 groups I have joined I have been quite (read: very) active in.
So effective in my opinion are the LinkedIn groups, I have actually created one for the social media open case study of which a number of people have signed up already.
With such a simple concept, these groups have come about to be a great driving force behind LinkedIn’s emergence from being just a “Facebook for business”. With profile creation on LinkedIn a little more “involved” and “busier” than Facebook, Google+ and Twitter it means that most users signing up, genuinely see its advantages and even though the overall figure for LinkedIn membership may not be as high as the others, it’s effectiveness at genuinely garnishing high quality business based connections to you and your site are second to none.
Basically, LinkedIn groups are brilliant because of the type of people on there. Sure, not all of them are helpful or resourceful as some, but compared to the likes of the users on fb, g+ and t, at least from a business perspective, the still bring some value in the connections they have.
So if you’re a long time lurker on LinkedIn, have a search for some groups in your particular field of interest, maybe even join up. It might give this social media resource for you, a second lease on life.
After all, I still think that in Australia, LinkedIn is the most under-utilised, fastest growing social media platform to date.
dEx - gossip ink.social media
“this is my LinkedIn group here!”
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