Peter recently asked his LinkedIn connections what they thought about the new Group Discussions feature. I’m shocked (kind of) at the results. By the way, if you are not happy with your LinkedIn Profile, check out the new Career Resumes feature of revamping LinkedIn Profiles. Here are the results from Peter’s question:
Dave Maskin says:
Getting lots of gigs from both the Q&A and group discussions…
Businesses ffind me, call me, hire me. It’s as simple as that…
Jim Wahl says:
Group Discussions are nothing more than ads. I completely stopped looking at them.
Glenda Brown says:
I find it a waste of my time – nothing but advertisements and the majority of them have zero connection to the group’s focus.
Martin Thomas says:
it’s all ads or people looking for jobs
really boring
don’t go there any more
Ives De Busser says:
I must say that I am not that long on LinkedIn and I must agree with the comments so far. If you post the same question in the Q&A section or as a group discussion, you get a lot more feedback on the Q&A post. The group discussions are all about looking for people to hire or looking for a new job, and in that extend that I think they are lost for asking real questions that members of that group could possibly make a difference in.
Renato Beani says:
I am in about 15 groups. I thought it could bring me some new topics to think about or a new way to see something I really know. But it seems, like everybody said, people misuse them as a space to ask for a new job. OK, there are groups for that, but not all of them!
Josh Chernin says:
From what I’ve seen (I belong to about a dozen groups), they range from very useful to a complete waste; one of them is simply enjoyable and amusing.
Victoria Lowe says:
I ‘own’ two groups and have become a discussion Nazi. Spam messages get deleted immediately (well, as soon as I see them… I might have a life outside LI). I’ve found the discussions to be lively and very informative.
I left a number of high volume marketing groups, because it was all-spam-all-the-time, regardless of pleas to the groups’ owners to actually moderate.
Annemarie DeMarco says:
I wish I had the time for group discussions.
Melissa Sullivan says:
I have been utilizing the groups to foster industry discussion of topics. I was hoping to generate new marketing ideas or learn other successful marketing techniques being employed by others. In some instances I have generated lively discussions and have identified like-minded individuals. As others have also expressed there were a few individuals that used these lively group dialogues to ask for business and to hire their company to solve the business challenge proposed. To me, they completely missed the point of the interaction. I admire their gusto but wonder if there should perhaps be some “norms” established for group discussions so that they do not become “ads” or solicitations for personal business.
Firoze Zia Hussain says:
yes its a great place
Melissa Bianca de Teffe says:
Like all things some are good and some are not. It depends on who does what. I found some Q that were uninteresting and others were. I was of great help in providing further indepth answers to a young professional seeking info on EU legislation on immigration/muslims/christians. so you have the chance to link to neat people and although the percentage is low it still brings me happiness so is worth it. Never stop searching!
Grayson Walker says:
While some ‘discussions’ and ‘questions’ are just self-serving advertisements, the F1 (Formula One) group has some very interesting and lively discussions. I find the group more civil than some of the topical boards, such as run by SpeedTV. Nevertheless, they are what Steve Covey would call time wasters.
Gianluigi Cuccureddu says:
Unfortunately, group discussions are polluted with ads and alikes.
Amongst discussions there are interesting ones, but you have to search well.Hope LinkedIn creates a marketplace or something like that to seperate both.
For the most part, I have to agree with the concensus… but I do think there’s a pretty good Discussions strategy to employ. I’m going to blog about it on my LinkedIn blog later this week.
