LinkedIn Status

Anonymous asked me about the status of my interest in setting up a LinkedIn group for my association. It has been several months since I ranted about the poor response from LinkedIn, and I have been feeling guilty about not providing an update on them and Chipotle. Thanks, Anonymous, for putting this on the front burner.

Proving that the way to get a company to listen to you in this day and age is to post your grievance on a blog, LinkedIn did get back to me a few days after the rant. I still have the email and am sitting on it. Coincidentally, my employer recently joined the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, and they set up a LinkedIn group within a week of our joining. I joined their group and have made 2-3 new contacts through it.

I think LinkedIn's group feature does provide a lot of value. The decision to not pursue a LinkedIn group for our association is strategic. Taking a step back from all the social networking madness, we realize that there are dozens of social networks that we could latch onto. Rather than exclude a group of members who prefer Facebook over LinkedIn, for example, we are considering adding one or more personal URL fields to our online membership directory that would allow users to input and share with other members whatever link(s) they want. So if they have a blog, they can add that URL to their profile. If they have a MySpace profile, they can add that URL. Ad infinitum. Furthermore, I don't see that LinkedIn has sufficiently penetrated our demographic that would make stepping out into that particular social network a high priority right now.

On a related note, the local Chipotle manager also called me within a day or two of the rant, but I'm ashamed to say I never called him back. And I'm happy to report that the service at that location has improved. Although I haven't been going there as often these days. I've been watching my diet and exercising 5-6 days per week since January, and there are over 1000 calories in my favorite Chipotle burrito.

Tagged: Association Management; Associations; CAE; Certified Association Executive