As shared with the Medical Devices Group today, July 17, 2018.

LinkedIn will destroy this group once and for all.

IF YOU VALUE THIS GROUP, even a little, you need to act today and join my mailing list.

Please visit this address now: https://medgroup.biz/stay.

IT MAY BE THE ONLY WAY I CAN TALK WITH YOU IN THE FUTURE. And no, this isn’t histrionics, spam, or phishing (as some inquired today).

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WHAT THE F**K?
I gave up explaining LinkedIn long ago. Read https://medgroup.biz/beat.

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NO MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS
Group Announcements – like this one – are going away. If you want a weekly MDG email, you have to join the https://medgroup.biz/stay mailing list.

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SPAM WINS
Moderation is going away. It will be a free-for-all. Everyone can post anything to anywhere.

Did you know you can pay someone to spam LinkedIn?

You can.

Remarkably, here’s evidence. An exchange I had with a spammer neither I nor “Customer Service” could figure out how to delete. (I finally did, after multiple attempts.) 🙄

We are in trouble.

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WHICH IS WORSE?
(a) Losing the ability to write you.

(b) Losing the ability to protect you from spam.

Either way, the Medical Devices Group Will Be Destroyed.

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TIME TO GIVE UP?
No.

You and I have spent too much time building this community.

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HERE’S THE PLAN
1) Join https://medgroup.biz/stay so we can still talk.

2) I just set aside $10,000 to completely update https://MedicalDevicesGroup.net. My “Nice to do one day” just became “must do now.”

3) Our in-person 10x meetings just became more important. For now, I will host three:

– 10x for ENGINEERS (this October) at https://medgroup.biz/10x

– 10x for SALES and MARKETING (January, probably Orlando)

– The 10x Medical Device Conference (May, San Diego)

4) I just set aside another $1,000 to completely update https://MedicalDeviceEvents.com. It will support 10x events and have a true Medical Device Events calendar that features every single live medical device event I discover. Bookmark it. Request a brochure to get on that mailing list too.

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I’m out of space.

If you want to help, my email is JHage@MedicalDevicesGroup.net.

☹️ Sad day for us. ☹️

– Joe

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See “What’s Happening with the Medical Devices Group (and Groups in general on LinkedIn)?” for answers to your FAQs.

About the author: Joe Hage still leads the world’s largest Medical Devices Group (350,000+ members), the industry’s only spam-free, curated forum for intelligent conversations with medical device thought leaders. Mr. Hage’s medical device marketing services help companies engage qualified prospects and his family of 10x Medical Device Conferences unites Medical Devices Group members in fun and educational forums each year.

Halim Gabra
Global Administration Consultant at I Squared Capital
I am not privy to the ins and outs of how social media companies work but I think many changes in LinkedIn are being introduced specifically to integrate better with other Microsoft products such as Office 365 to get a broader user engagement platform. Moderated closed groups, while nice for members, do not result in a broad user base – which can generate more advertising revenue. Glad you have an alternative. I still follow the medical devices field, even though I am no longer actively involved in it. Fascinating to see the changes with many companies that used to be leaders in some markets that ended up being acquired, bankrupt, superseded by alternative new technologies. Names such as Marquette, Hellige, Aloka, and many others are no longer here today.

PHIL FRIEDMAN
Marine Industry Consultant ∙ Marketing & Ghost Writer ∙ YachtBuild Advisor ∙ Yachting Magazine Writer/Editor ∙ 10K+
Halim Gabra > “Moderated closed groups, while nice for members, do not result in a broad user base – which can generate more advertising revenue. “

From a business standpoint, it is a snare and a delusion to pump the user base without associated demographics that support the generation of advertising revenues. I believe strongly in closed, actively moderated groups as offering a valuable contribution to developing a loyal, stable user base. But nobody says they are a silver bullet. What I can tell you, however, is that robo-moderation and un-moderated groups have proven to be complete failures. One reason is that they lack differentiation from the general feed. Cheers!

Halim Gabra
Global Administration Consultant at I Squared Capital
PHIL FRIEDMAN Thanks for your informative feedback. It is true that when one joins a moderated closed group, one joins a tighter knit community with more engagement. Not sure what are the plans for LinkedIn.. I admit I am not very knowledgeable about social media marketing – but Joe’s message aroused my curiosity to learn more about this topic.

PHIL FRIEDMAN
Marine Industry Consultant ∙ Marketing & Ghost Writer ∙ YachtBuild Advisor ∙ Yachting Magazine Writer/Editor ∙ 10K+
http://www.OpenWorldNorthAmerica.org

PHIL FRIEDMAN
Marine Industry Consultant ∙ Marketing & Ghost Writer ∙ YachtBuild Advisor ∙ Yachting Magazine Writer/Editor ∙ 10K+
John, in case you don’t know, some people whom we know are in the midst of founding a new not-for-profit, member-owned social media platform on which professional- and industry-based groups will be welcomed, supported, and provided with the support necessary to thrive. Owners of existing groups will be able to move their groups en block there and have complete control of how they are run (within, of course, guidelines prohibiting hate-based activities, etc.) You can see the Alpha-phase preliminary information at: http://www.OpenWorldNorthAmerica.org.
Cheers!

Dave Aronson
I help companies write better software faster
They aren’t targeting that group in particular, as far as I know, but they are continuing the things that they have been doing for the past few years, that have been badly damaging groups. They have been steadily removing lots of tools that we Owners, Managers, and Moderators (OMMs) use to protect our groups, tools that people use to just *use* the groups (like find replies to their posts and comments), and so on. There is a complete rewrite in process, allegedly to be rolled out in a few weeks, but before then, LI is going to strip groups down to what LI considers “core features” — which apparently does not include some of what we OMMs consider our most vital tools. (No, I’m not going to say more, lest spammers find this and figure out how to spam our groups way ahead of time. Having it be screamingly obvious when it happens, will be bad enough.)

Joe Hage
🔥 Find me at MedicalDevicesGroup.net 🔥
Correct, Dave Aronson. Not targeting my group but the title, as is, will resonate more with my followers and subscribers. I need them to take action if we’re going to continue this community.

PHIL FRIEDMAN
Marine Industry Consultant ∙ Marketing & Ghost Writer ∙ YachtBuild Advisor ∙ Yachting Magazine Writer/Editor ∙ 10K+
Yes, Joe, you do have to take action soon… before LI cuts off your access to your group members. IMO. But also, Dave Aronson, LI IS targeting Joe’s group specifically — although not by name. LI abhors the strong groups like Joe’s because such groups represent major channels for content distribution that are outside of LI’s direct control. And that, I submit, is the major underlying driver behind LI’s attack on Groups.

John Marrett
Helping mid-sized organizations increase sales and improve customer service since 1993 | #LinkedInLocal
Incredible, what a waste. LinkedIn has not figured out what they have destroyed!

John Buggie
Marketing & Strategy professional services leader
Sorry to learn this update, Joe.
Lmk how I can be helpful – happy to assist in securing digital talent to help you update https://MedicalDevicesGroup.net if needed.

Joe Hage
🔥 Find me at MedicalDevicesGroup.net 🔥
Always there for me, John Buggie, and I appreciate it.

Sean P. Fodera
Associate Director of Contracts, Ebook Innovator
Sorry to hear this news, Joe. I’m not in your field or your group, but I feel your pain. The publishing groups to which I belong have withered and died. In a field where written communication is the whole idea, I can’t believe my industry could be hit so hard by these changes. But, there it is. Best of luck with your updated sites. I hope we’ll still see some of your posts here on LI.

Joe Hage
🔥 Find me at MedicalDevicesGroup.net 🔥
Thank you, Sean. It’s a good reminder for those who build on social platforms: Invest in your own properties first. I did, so I’m not completely flat-footed. Wish I did more.