Archive for September 29th, 2010



LinkedIn Groups: Glitches Get Fixed – Sort Of

September 29th, 2010 by Erin Posted in LinkedIn | Comments Off

It’s no secret that LinkedIn revamped its Groups section over the summer. Among some of the changes LinkedIn rolled out include:

- An ability to track contributions to a story or discussion.

- A revolving carousel of stories which gives users a new way to browse and participate in the most popular discussions.

- A new box that highlights the “top influencers” of a group, which is based who contributes to discussions.

- A “like” or “pass” button.

Based on these features, it may seem that LinkedIn Groups is now more of a popularity contest than a place to share and exchange. But people are digging the whole social network vibe. They really, really are.

LinkedIn says its new interface has already significantly increased member participation – a number they measure by user comments and visits to Groups. LinkedIn says it was also listening this summer to several complaints about how the new features effect users’ abilities to moderate – or lack thereof. So, now, in true LinkedIn style – the site has presented its first set of improvements. And while, they won’t fix some of the other common complaints – such as speed – they do make life easier for moderators. Here are the highlights.

1. Delete threads directly. Moderators can fight spam by simply deleting inappropriate content from the “More” tap on any groups’ thread.

2. New email notifications. Sure, email notifications are not new, but now group managers can get email alerts for every new post and DELETE SPAM and INAPPROPRIATE POSTS straight from those emails!

3. Find other users to help moderate. Group managers don’t have to take on the work of moderating the group alone. They can now deputize trusted members to help moderate.

4. Encourage others to flag inappropriate content. All users can help weed out spam and inappropriate content by flagging. All posts and comments flagged as inappropriate are then added to the group managers’ new moderation queue. In one swift move, they can delete or clear flags from posts as well as blacklist spammers with the powerful “remove member, block & delete contributions” button.

While the new LinkedIn Groups may look like a three-ring circus compared to the old version, it has improved the quality of conversations and it works very much like a social network. But, LinkedIn says this is just the first in a series of improvements. Perhaps the best is yet to come…

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