Photo credit: Dule Hill on WhoSay

There’s a catchphrase on “The West Wing” television show that captures our experience building a community on LinkedIn.

“I serve at the pleasure of the President.”

In a similar fashion I, Joe Hage, serve at the pleasure of LinkedIn.

If I choose to play in their sandbox, I have to abide by LinkedIn’s ever-changing rules, even when the rules hurt the community we’ve built.

The October 2015 changes really hurt groups like ours. Read on for the ways I chose to protect our community from the impact of these ill-conceived changes.

Problem 1: LinkedIn now publishes all discussions as submitted, without my approval.

With this change every member could post spam anytime.

Workaround 1: I put all 350,000 members on moderation. The unfortunate side effect is nothing (including comments to discussions) gets published until I personally approve it. But at least we’ll stay spam free, which is far more important than timeliness.

Problem 2: I can’t write you privately anymore. I used to send individual notes of encouragement to members in transition, and would answer common questions that didn’t merit a discussion for all the world to see.

Workaround 2: If you have questions for me, you can InMail me on LinkedIn for free. And you can email me here. I will also “burn” a few of my paid-for InMails for member messages.

Problem 3: LinkedIn removed the Promotions tab.
Now there’s no place for your blog posts, event invitations, and related.

Workaround 3: We can rely more on this MedicalDevicesGroup.net site as a means to communicate.
If you value the group, please register with this site to ensure we can talk no matter what new changes LinkedIn makes. Use our Events tab to list events.

Can we persuade LinkedIn to change the group rules?

History says no. But if “their research shows” these changes were bad, they may revert.

Your Questions

Why didn’t you publish my post?
The reasons are the same as those I used before LinkedIn’s last change. Only more so because now there’s no promotions tab either. See “On Publishing.”

I still want to post to the group. What can I post that you’ll publish?
Here’s an example of a strong subject and description for your inspiration: “How are toothpaste and mouthwash Medical Devices?”

Note how that example:
– Has fewer than 120 characters in the subject line;
– Has the question in the subject line;
– Has a few sentences to introduce the topic and give background; and,
– Asks additional questions to stimulate discussion.

Remember, it all rides on the strength of the subject line, which LinkedIn may share in group digest, so it has to make sense on its own. Does your subject line intrigue and clearly communicate the topic?

Why don’t you build something outside of LinkedIn?
I am. I encourage you to register on this site if you’ve not yet done so.

I am building a duplicate site here so if LinkedIn goes completely off the rails, we’ll still have something left.

Group Objective and New Group Rules

The Medical Devices Group is the world’s largest medical device community and the industry’s only spam-free, curated forum for intelligent conversations with medical device thought leaders.

USE OF GROUP CONSTITUTES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE RULES. THE GROUP IS INTENDED FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND IS NOT AN APPROPRIATE FORUM FOR ANY SOLICITATION OF INVESTMENTS. OFFENDERS WILL BE BANNED WITHOUT NOTICE.

We promote continuous education through timely discussion, professional networking, and social interaction.

Use the group to build your personal and corporate brands. We encourage you to visit our complementary MedicalDevicesGroup.net site where we share video, event listings, and other functionality LinkedIn does not presently support.

——————–
CONVERSATION
——————–
We fiercely protect our CONVERSATION page because, like you, we want meaningful dialogues free from spam, blatant self-promotion, and clutter.

We delete discussions which, IN OUR SOLE DISCRETION,

1. Do not invite debate and expert contributions.
2. Aren’t meaningful to the busy medical device executive.
3. Aren’t posted by a person (not a company) with a photograph (not a logo).
4. Aren’t self-contained. That is, you don’t need to click on a link to understand it. You can, however, include a link as background or support for your position or question. For example,

Bad: The New York Times on the medical device tax [Link]
Good: Everyone’s bashing the medical device tax. What’s the other side of the story?

Note: Whenever possible, avoid links to your website, blog, or related. These are typically too self-promotional.

——————–
JOBS
——————–
This tab is unmoderated. As contributors, you succeed when you use good judgment. If you abuse the system (post inappropriate material, post too frequently, etcetera), you risk being banned from the group and all your prior contributions deleted.

As readers: Some JOBS postings are actual jobs inviting an application; some are not. Expect self-promotion and spam. You do have a weapon, however. You can “flag” posts as inappropriate. If managers agree, the post will be removed and we may block the contributor from the group.

Inappropriate posts and comments are:
– Not in English.
– Solicitous, especially for investment.
– Not clearly related to the medical devices industry or relevant to the discussion.
– Trivial, political, derogatory, unprofessional, ranting, disrespectful.
– Infringing on intellectual property, privacy, or other third-party rights.
– Obscene, otherwise objectionable, or in violation of any U.S. law.
– Self-promotional. These include, but are not limited to, networking invites, introductions, job requests, holiday greetings, and links to other LinkedIn Groups.

——————–
RULES ENFORCEMENT
——————–
Group managers reserve the right, but have no obligation, to (1) monitor, delete, or move posts, and (2) remove and block members WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE and AT OUR SOLE DISCRETION.

Group managers are allowed to post links to white papers, audio/video recordings, events, surveys, affiliated social networking groups, products, services, and related resources anywhere in the group AT OUR SOLE DISCRETION.

If you wish to contest our decision, you may send an email to group owner Joe Hage at JHage@MedicalDevicesGroup.net.

——————–
NO RESPONSIBILITY / NO LIABILITY
——————–
In no event do group managers or moderators assume any responsibility or liability whatsoever for any post. You agree to waive any legal or equitable rights or remedies you may have against group managers and moderators.

CONTACT
Medical Devices Group Owner Joe Hage at JHage@MedicalDevicesGroup.net.
Reviewed and Renewed: October 14, 2015

For reference, here’s a link to the old group rules.

Carol B.
Thanks, Joe. I appreciate the thought that went into this decision. As a former manager of another LI group, it is apparent to me that most of the outlined LI policy changes will have a significant negative impact on groups in general. It will definitely make things challenging for group admins, as you point out in your posting.
Following the money, my guess is that LI wants to increase revenue by “encouraging” organizations to purchase advertising, vs. using the promotions tab. However, most of our members ignored that area of the group.
Getting rid of the group demographics is a real inconvenience and seems short-sighted from the “consumer’s” POV, but again, if they want to sell ad space, they likely will make these stats available to ad buyers as selection criteria for promotional targeting purposes.

Paul Goeld
pgoeld@gmail.com
I generally agree with your points but the new LinkedIn rules won’t be the end of the world.

Yes, we will now be exposed to more thoughtless and “not on point” postings. Anyone who spends time on social media deals with that every day. While it may be an inconvenience and a bit less efficient on the LinkedIn site, most of us have learned to scroll past the things we don’t want or need to read.

I did want to thank you for your efforts at organizing this, Joe. It’s a very interesting group – I learn a lot!

Sue Fair
loraxcompliance.comx
sfair@loraxcompliance.com
Joe,

Thank you for the summary. We are a software provider to medical device companies and used the “promotions” ta to invite people to webinars on regulatory compliance. I don’t want to be seen as a spammer and didn’t want to annoy people with self promotion of our company to the many that don’t want to see such stuff in this LinkedIn group. So this leaves companies like ours, who want to reach out to Medical Device Companies, but not drive them crazy with no area in this Group to do so. Such a shame that LinkedIn is not taking its users views into consideration – in the same way s they still allow anonymous viewing of profiles……

Thomas Ash
ddthomasash@gmail.com
Joe,
Thanks for summarising the changes to LinkedIn groups. Concur fully on content approval workflows to ensure there remains high quality in this group (and all the others I track). Hopefully the group can continue to operate within LinkedIn which remains my primary platform versus FB, Twitter, blog sites.
Good Luck
Thomas

Sunnie Thornton
Currently seeking marketing and/or event management career opportunities in the Sacramento, CA area.
Feedback submitted to customer support. Thanks for sharing, Joe.

Maria Florio
Inspiring Human Potential | Online Marketing Consultant | Passionate Entrepreneur
I’m not so sure how much of Linkedin’s “research” is true. All the changes they’ve made to LinkedIn groups are not making the experience better nor are they continuing to allow professionals with similar interests to connect and build relationships. I think LinkedIn may lose many users with the approach it has decided to take as a social network, not only with the most recent LinkedIn group changes.

Vivian Chapman
Semi-Retired Freelance Consultant
“Be heard”? are you kidding me?

Joe Hage
🔥 Find me at MedicalDevicesGroup.net 🔥
The most shocking part of all? LinkedIn customers are vocally complaining on their site. I am saying I will do what I can to migrate three hundred thousand customers off site. And still nothing.

P.S. I had to switch from Chrome to Firefox to leave a reply. Otherwise I would have had to make a new comment.

Dhun Health Guard systems
Shroff P&I Re insurance Charterers insurance
Joe Hage we are all complaining Linked in does nothing what to do ??

Wayne Schulz
Schulz Consulting | Sage 100 | 833.724.3100
I agree with your thoughts and while I hate to do it, there will be a lot more deleting of off-topic posts which otherwise would have been just fine in promotions.
I am actively looking at sites where I can essentially siphon off the LinkedIn existing membership. I don’t think I’ll be able to completely replace the group, but I do believe that I will actively control posts and re-direct discussions off Linkedin at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Truth be told, Linkedin is a lousy discussion avenue whose primary asset is that (a) most businesses don’t block the LinkedIn domain (b) the digest of activity is a very helpful way for smart users to create content that becomes almost like an email newsletter – but with far less hassle..…see more

C. Angelique Steccato
VP Business Development, Client Services and Marketing at USDTL
So now for all groups event invites will happen under discussions – personally I think LI is missing the opportunity to create an events tab. It is where networking, educational, conferences, etc. could have been posted (online or live doesn’t matter to me). So that when I am looking for events of common interest I do not have to scour multiple online sites. Just saying my 2 cents. Joe thanks for all the heavy lifting to keep the group content valuable as it can be.

Joe Hage
🔥 Find me at MedicalDevicesGroup.net 🔥
Yes, Jim. And very time consuming.

Jim Streifel, MBA √
Inspiring Positive Change to the Employee Experience Through Culture, Engagement & Benefits
It’s sad that it’s come to this.

Mae C.
Forensic Accounting • Research • Writer
Excellent walk-through and walk-around plan, Joe. I’m keeping The Accounting Students Group unlisted for now although that may be a problem for Accounting and Finance Students new to LinkedIn if they cannot find the Group. We are the largest unaffiliated Group of its kind on LinkedIn and that took careful curation and diligent management. Not ready to sacrifice quality for growth.

Greg Eaton
Management Consultant | Technologist | Mentor | Strategic Adviser | Board Member | NED | Corporate ReEngineering Expert
Right On !!!! Done !!!

Laura Dodson
Recycled Book Journals
I’ve heard the buddy app for wordpress is good. I’ve never been able to get up and running, though. So it would take a wordpress dev to make it work.