You’ve heard it before… LinkedIn has over 21 million professionals worldwide representing 150 countries, and is receiving over 9.5 million unique visitors monthly. Did you know the power networking site has 121,051 groups?

The biggest advantage in belonging to a group (a majority of them) is the ability to search, contact, and network with other members (on your own initiative). There are a rare few who do send out newsletters too.

I am excited to hear on Friday this week, LinkedIn is releasing group enhancements, including discussion capabilities.

Here is a quick overview of the enhancements:

• Discussion forums: Simple discussion spaces for you and your members. (You can turn discussions off in your management control panel if you like.)
• Enhanced roster: Searchable list of group members.
• Digest emails: Daily or weekly digests of new discussion topics which your members may choose to receive. (We will be turning digests on for all current group members soon, and prompting them to set to their own preference.)
• Group home page: A private space for your members on LinkedIn.

This is great news for both group owners and members. If you haven’t joined our group yet you can do so by clicking here. We’ve added over 2,000 new members in the past 3 months - and are looking forward to taking advantage of the new group capabilities.

See you on LinkedIn.

• September 21, 2008 -- 30 Days Later… On LinkedIn Group Enhancements (0)
• March 2, 2009 -- Reverse Headhunting with LinkedIn (3)
• October 30, 2008 -- Enhance Your LinkedIn Profile & Collaborate with Box.net (0)
• October 30, 2008 -- Announcing LinkedIn Applications (1)
• October 14, 2008 -- A Job Seekers Perspective and The Candidate Experience (8)

2 Responses to “Finally, Discussion Groups on LinkedIn have Arrived!”

1. Lyn Mettler Says:
   August 27th, 2008 at 1:52 am

   Whoo hoo! Up till now, LinkedIn groups has seemed utterly pointless to me. Glad they are finally figuring out a way to make them useful.

   [Reply to this Comment]

2. Dave Barger Says:
   August 27th, 2008 at 3:47 am

   Jason,

   I know most are thrilled to have these dreams come true with groups. What an empty hollow label they’ve been. I’m guessing that there are those who find some utility in the mere “association” with a LinkedIn group brand on their profiles. Some would call it a “tattoo group”.

   I started pondering these new features this evening (after receiving my group admin email), and I wound-up posting an on-the-fence about type post and then even took a paraphrasing about it to LinkedIn Answers for some additional perspectives.

   This is going to be interesting.
   http://lalunablanca.wordpress.com/2008/08/26/linkedin-groups-feature-or-repellent

   - Dave
   @lalunablanca (just followed you)
   http://www.linkedin.com/in/davebarger

   [Reply to this Comment]

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