3 golden rules for best practice: LinkedIn and Xing

by Urs E. Gattiker on 2009/10/22 · 51 comments 29,554 views

in b why benchmark failures,c blogging - case studies,c micro-blogging Twitter,e marketing 101 serving a need

Recently a successful entrepreneur and client of ours asked whether he should join LinkedIn and/or Xing to boost visibility and help his business. Here are some of the thoughts and ideas we discussed.

How to do it smarter
==> Put up bio, start connecting – NOT
We recently came across a LinkedIn Discussion started by Gilbert suggesting that everyone should read How to make the most of your LinkedIn presence.

Having read this post, my client said, “I fail to see how this will help our people sell our product to industrial buyers.”

I explained that his current and potential clients could find information about him more quickly that way and joining groups discussing issues relevant to his business might be beneficial. But he needed more convincing.

1. Spend less time
==> Dream ON
Tara Donnelly started a LinkedIn Discussion that suggested reading Social Networking in less than one hour per week. Tara suggests just posting in discussion forums regarding one’s own blog and products for a while, thereby saving valuable work time.

So everything, including blogging, should take no more than one hour every week. This sounds too good to be true and since it fails to work for us, we did not share this insight with our client.

Surely we are not the only ones who spend too much time on LinkedIn or Twitter? Maybe it is better to spend more time with people, since this could result in more fun than tweeting or networking?

2. Getting customers through LinkedIn
==> Are we having a conversation yet – NOT so much
To gain visibility and share our insights we contribute to discussions on groups where we have memberships. This kind of engagement has resulted in feedback and some nice discussions with people that have later test-driven our web-based software for benchmarking their blog(s):

Please register and see your blog improve – it’s FREE!

However, this failed to convince our client of the usefulness of LinkedIn and Xing for his company and staff. In fact, he thought engaging in this way would be too time-consuming and insisted that we use more effective ways to get people to purchase more products from his company.

3. Connecting to other people through your network
==> 3 degrees of separation on LinkedIn vs. 1 phone call
Stanley Milgram’s work established that we are all linked by a human web or the proverbial ‘six degrees of separation’. But will you ever use one of your LinkedIn network members to reach out to one of her members to, in turn, connect to a potential client? Simply picking up the phone be better and quicker, no?

Our client felt that he would definitely prefer to write a direct email to the person he wanted to contact and then follow-up with a phone call. That would surely be faster and require less time than having to do it through Paul Wright, who would ask Sarah Miller to connect either one of us with Scott Stratten.

More information:

LinkedIn – Help! I have social media rejection syndrome on LinkedIn!

Example of a corporate social media policy that works – 5 golden rules

Disconnected friends, information flow and social networks – the researcher

Making sure the source is trustworthy – Facebook, Twitter, Xing, LinkedIn

3 golden rules for social media marketing

Industry trend in social media marketing, personal brands are at stake… not corporate brands

Saving time with Twitter – six degrees of separation – Stanley Milgram

7 ways to hedge your bets beyond LinkedIn and Mixi when building your brand

Take-aways

Social relationships depend on proximity

the closer two people live to each other, the more likely the LinkedIn or Xing connection will result in a face-to-face meeting

LinkedIn helps build your personal brand

LinkedIn can be used as a competitive intelligence tool

Opportunity costs can be substantial

could time spent using LinkedIn or Xing be spent more effectively talking to customers or writing your eBook

P.S. – Want to get the latest insight on this blog instead of hindsight from someone else? Sign up with your email right now:

Bottom line
Beyond the above, we recommended that our client check and see if his clients are even on LinkedIn or Xing. If he had two important clients using either, he might as well take the plunge by putting up his bio and joining some groups.

Finally, before joining a group you need to understand WHAT you’re listening for. Why do you want to listen and what do you want to learn from this group of LinkedIn or Xing members? How will this information help you improve your company’s bottom line?

Okay, now we would like to know what advice would you give a CEO of a small- or medium-sized company regarding LinkedIn, and Xing.

We would like to hear your thoughts and insights, and about your experiences: did it work for you? If so, what were your best outcomes?

Digg Digg

Tagged as: are we having a conversation yet, best practice, blog metrics, buzz marketing, LinkedIn, social media measurement, Xing

Pingback: World Economic Forum
Pingback: ROSE KEMPS
Pingback: JobShoots
Pingback: JobShoots
Pingback: Wales Social Media
Pingback: MyComMetrics
Pingback: Urs E. Gattiker
Pingback: Mario Midas
http://shibumi.de/ BHF

This is a nice post, thank you.

I just discovered English written blogs, to improve my English but this will help me network smarter using LinkedIN or Xing

Bernd Helmut Frank
.-= ´s last blog ..Computer Sinclair ZX81 =-.
Pingback: uberVU - social comments
Pingback: Urs E. Gattiker
Pingback: World Economic Forum
Roy Heeley

I am beginning to think I am not English.
or maybe the article is not in English.
I would really like to learn what the 3 things are but honestly from this article I have not idea – not
- Jonas Hilbert
  
  Roy
  
  I am not sure what you read but I got:
  
  a) takes more time than I might think so watch out
  
  b) unlikely to find new clients this way but possible to learn from others in groups
  
  c) sometimes it is quicker to connect to a person (client) to just pick up the phone.
  
  Sure I did not get it all but that is it. Hope useful to you.
Arsento

I really like this post because it raises issues I have been reflecting about myself. Mind you, I don’t have an answer either so far and I am curious what other people come up with and share here.

Xing has been helpful to connect to other social media experts that live within 100 km of my office. In turn, as you pointed out we have met either at professional events (e.g., blog or Xing dinner) and this was very helpful.

But I restrict myself to focus on the groups I am member of, stay in touch with those people and forget about the rest. This way I am down to about 2-hours a week.

Have I sold more product? No but I have gotten some more contacts and information that I would not have found so quickly otherwise (saved me time).

Thanks
Arsento
- http://howto.drkpi.ch Urs E. Gattiker
  
  Bernd, Roy, Jonas and Arsento
  
  Thanks for your input appreciate it very much.
  
  Roy I think Jonas tried to answer so I will not do it here. Jonas thanks so much.
  
  Arsento, maybe one thing I found is that at Xing some groups have few people who really contribute and others have more. Hence, it is important to find those that have several people contributing valuable stuff including moderators.
  
  With LinkedIn I find some groups have so many active members (that is great) that I can barely keep up with the daily digest I get… I scan it but don’t have time to read it all.
  
  Again, one needs to limit onself to the about 5 groups that are most valuable (takes time to find out) and then stick with those.
  
  Thank you all for sharing. Look forward to the next comment from you.
  .-= ´s last blog ..3 golden rules for social media marketing =-.
  - http://www.ipenforcement.wordpress.com Nils Montan
    
    LINKEDIN has been great for me – but I dedicate a fair amount of time to it. Most people just sign up and sit there like dead fish (and you know what Gov. Palin said about them). It’s like my old grandma used to say – “Boy, you get out of it, what you put into it.” Truer words were never spoken.
    
    There are a million lawyers on LINKEDIN and I don’t know how many business people. Anyone of them could send me some work – or tell me something interesting today. What a blessing.
    
    .-= ´s last blog ..IP Owners Need To Do More – Including Spending MONEY =-.
    - http://info.drkpi.ch Urs E. Gattiker
      
      Nils
      
      Same for me how else you and I would have met
      
      Yes but putting time into it means also that the pay-off in form of great information or meeting helpful people like yourself takes time.
      
      So unless you give it time – a few months maybe – it will be unlikely to do us any good.
      
      Thanks for sharing.
      .-= ´s last blog ..Current job openings =-.
    - http://www.ipenforcement.wordpress.com Nils Montan
      
      I joined XING. It certainly is different from LINKEDIN. It will take some getting used to. It would be great some day to get a blog which compared the strengths and weaknesses of these professional networking sites. Thanks Urs, great stuff.
      
      Nils
      .-= ´s last blog ..IPENFORCEMENT NOW ON TWITTER =-.
    - http://info.drkpi.ch Urs E. Gattiker
      
      Dear Nils
      
      You are certainly right Xing is very different from LinkedIn indeed.
      
      For starters some things I came across:
      
      1) When joining a group on Xing, one can set one’s settings to get a daily digest of messages or a summary of the day vs. each message whenever it happens as one can get on LinkedIn
      
      2) Xing is most certainly good to get contacts in Germany but the ‘culture’ is a bit more formal than what seems to be happening on LinkedIn groups. Some groups are in German other in English…
      
      3) Groups I have joined addressing social media, luxury brands, B2B stuff are quite lively on LinkedIn while Xing is far less alive it seems.
      This can be good or bad but at this stage I feel “Where is the beef” when it comes to Xing groups, but maybe I joined the wrong ones.
      
      4) You want to start a group with Xing? Well you can try but the service is such that you may not even get a polite no… zero response. Similar to the early days with LinkedIn so there might still be some room for improvement for Xing. Let us wait and see.
      
      Who is better – depends where you live …. what you want…. both have their good and not so good sides, try both and let yourself be surprised but watch the time you spend on these things.
      
      Good luck with networking and I am glad you and I met on LinkedIn.
      
      Urs
      @ComMetrics
Pingback: Very interesting links: BarCamp to Morgan Stanley via eBay - benchmark, eBay, Morgan Stanley, Barcamp, Bildungscampe, social media measurement, Java Script, Web 2.0, sentiment analysis, social media monitoring - ComMetrics: social media monitoring => b
Guest

This is an interesting post and I have been thinking about similar things if those things are useful or not. My first assessment is that it takes time. Blogging success is a slow march, not a mad dash. And somehow one has to establish benchmarks in order to know if one does get the benefits one planned for or not.Using the right blog metrics (click on link to the left)It is easy to spend much time on LinkedIn as well as Xing (Europe). But I find groups most helpful. For instance, one shares insights, participates in discussions and answers questions. In turn, one learns and helps others learn. The trick is just to join the right groups.I have:- one group on LinkedIn – Law And Social Networking (click on link to the left)(offers daily digest via e-mail of what happened) and- one on Xing – Social Media Monitoring (click on link to the left)(Xing even has an RSS feed neat to keep me posted)I find both very helpful. But I must admit, I did join too many groups on LinkedIn when I started to use groups. u00a0So it can definitely take too much time. I cut down the numbers of u00a0groups I participate in and avoid most since it takes too much time away from my job otherwise.
- http://My.ComMetrics.com Urs E. Gattiker
  
  Thanks for mentioned Xing – Social Media Montiring AND LinkedIN – Law and Social Networking as your favourite groups.
  
  Same for me, I had too many groups I was a member of myself and discovered it just took too much time… so focus is key it looks like.
  
  Thanks for sharing.
CeciliaLeung

Social media business sites like Xing and LinkedIn are almost a must to join nowadays.

Thus, people/customers/clients, companies, professionals can find us. It's brand building, promoting(PR), recognition for companies as well as individuals. Social media is a part of Marketing strategies. If companies need to be recognized, to be found and known, so social media is one component and a very critical one.

I think only join the sites won't help much, it is passive marketing. However, join selected groups and participate in the discussions will help. Group members will know you and mention your name and your company and refer your business(either products and services) to others. Give a time frame for short term goal — 6, 9, or 12 months and see what we can gain from these social media business sites.

In business world, everything is changing very fast, so we have to learn, to change and to adapt in order to keep up and compete with our competitors.
Cecilia Leung-
M.S Marketing, R.E investment/Development, Special projects
- http://My.ComMetrics.com Urs E. Gattiker
  
  Cecilia, thanks for leaving a comment on our blog. I think you say it nicely here:
  
  “Social media is a part of Marketing strategies. If companies need to be recognized, to be found and known, so social media is one component and a very critical one.”
  
  I also agree with joining alone will not bring one much (see my reply above) instead “join selected groups and participate in the discussions” will be the best strategy.
  
  I tweeted about the evolution thing – we have to adjust as follows:
  
  It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change (Charles Darwin) #quote (click on the link to the left).
  
  But I have yet to get a contract through LinkedIn. Through Xing I have made connections that resulted in referrals that let the cash register ring.
  
  Cecilia, thanks for sharing and hope to read your next comment soon on one of our blog posts
  - Cecilia Leung
    
    Thanks for the quote (Charles Darwin) I like it very much Urs.
    
    Yes, personally I think Xing helps me a lot, there is less spam. It is relationship based business site In general, people are a little more low key and hones. I and many people( they told me) have luck with Xing. It's different mentalities and cultures. Many times I got referrals, recommendations, suggestions that either lead into true honest friendships or business.
    
    I just started spending times on LinkedIn. I spend 10-15 mins each day. I choose a very few groups I like I belong and friends' recommendation. I got useful information, and most people connect me who are not strangers.(many I already know & met in person) I am not an open-netowrker, not in high-tech, not HR person, not a sales, not in retails/wholesales. Thus, in general LinkedIn is not helping me much, but I got some insight and learn something new
    Urs, this is my first time commenting on blogs and so far I enjoy it. Best wishes!
http://twitter.com/commetrics/status/8953078997 Urs E. Gattiker

Which Xing or LinkedIn group makes a diff. in your work? Commenter says: http://cli.gs/BrZhsE #measure #socialmedia #metrics
http://My.ComMetrics.com Urs E. Gattiker

CeciliannThanks for writing your first blog comment on our blog. This is a real privilege for me, thank you so much.nnCULTUREnI find your point about cultural differences in social networks quite interesting. For instance, I startedu00a0Xing – Social Media Monitoring (click on link to the left) in early November and it has taken until yesterday to get about 75 members.nnYes, Christmas Holidays may have made it a bit more difficult to attract new members. u00a0It also took until late January until we got into swing of things (i.e. other people commenting and contributing regularly besides the moderators).nnThis indicates THREE thingsnn1) Europeans take their public holidays seriously — and let the social networking side of things rest while focusing on family instead :-)nn2) Asu00a0Rachel Happe commentsu00a0more than 90% of blog readers or group members on networks like LinkedIn or Xing are lurkers that read but rarely if ever contribute to the discussions. It takes time to jump into the water and start commenting – see your experience with blogs although you are active in Xing groups I know.nn3) Related to point 2 is Judy Dunn’s comment that suggests that for most people it is difficult to write a comment or meaningful answer online going beyond the ‘I like this.’nnSo building a group on LinkedIN might go a bit faster than Xing. Nevertheless, u00a0this does not mean that the quality of the latter is worse. In fact, as you point out, self-branding and spam is less of an issue on Xing compared to LinkedIn.nnMECHANICSnWhat does help is if one can get a daily digest (LinkedIn) or an RSS feed (Xing) of those groups one is a member of. Unfortunately, neither LinkedIn offers an RSS feed for groups nor does Xing a daily digest via eMail.nnAs well, with Xing I had to first figure out that the group had to become open to enable the setting up of an RSS feed.nAs with Facebook or other places, both LinkedIn and Xing are not that great as far as usability is concerned. You kind of have to learn how to make the mechanics/features work best for you.nnI remember the wonderful time when one got a manual (paper it was) and one could read it and find answers using the subject index in the back. But that seems to be out of fashion considering that neither Twitter nor Facebook, LinkedIN nor Xing have any of these things…. not even a proper pdf file.nnWhat a shame and surprise at the same time. Amazing that users are willing to put up with this kind of bad user experience….nnBut even software vendors like aMember appear to prefer ignoring usability issues instead of improving user experience. For instance, u00a0making it impossible to remove a user from autoresponder mails (uncheck option box for a particular user, she still gets autoresponder mails). Worst is that users apparently seem willing to accept such shabby service u00a0and for me worst is that some vendors appear to get away with it….nn==> http://amember.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11478&highlight=unsubscribennCecilia, thanks so much for sharing and I hope that you will comment again soon on our blognnUrsnMy.ComMetrics.com – benchmark your blog – improve performancen(PS. leave your email address if you wish to get the latest post that way – see field upper right column on blog).
http://My.ComMetrics.com Urs E. Gattiker

CeciliannThanks for writing your first blog comment on our blog. This is a real privilege for me, thank you so much.nnCULTUREnI find your point about cultural differences in social networks quite interesting. For instance, I startedu00a0Xing – Social Media Monitoring (click on link to the left) in early November and it has taken until yesterday to get about 75 members.nnYes, Christmas Holidays may have made it a bit more difficult to attract new members. u00a0It also took until late January until we got into swing of things (i.e. other people commenting and contributing regularly besides the moderators).nnThis indicates THREE thingsnn1) Europeans take their public holidays seriously — and let the social networking side of things rest while focusing on family instead :-)nn2) Asu00a0Rachel Happe commentsu00a0more than 90% of blog readers or group members on networks like LinkedIn or Xing are lurkers that read but rarely if ever contribute to the discussions. It takes time to jump into the water and start commenting – see your experience with blogs although you are active in Xing groups I know.nn3) Related to point 2 is Judy Dunn’s comment that suggests that for most people it is difficult to write a comment or meaningful answer online going beyond the ‘I like this.’nnSo building a group on LinkedIN might go a bit faster than Xing. Nevertheless, u00a0this does not mean that the quality of the latter is worse. In fact, as you point out, self-branding and spam is less of an issue on Xing compared to LinkedIn.nnMECHANICSnWhat does help is if one can get a daily digest (LinkedIn) or an RSS feed (Xing) of those groups one is a member of. Unfortunately, neither LinkedIn offers an RSS feed for groups nor does Xing a daily digest via eMail.nnAs well, with Xing I had to first figure out that the group had to become open to enable the setting up of an RSS feed.nAs with Facebook or other places, both LinkedIn and Xing are not that great as far as usability is concerned. You kind of have to learn how to make the mechanics/features work best for you.nnI remember the wonderful time when one got a manual (paper it was) and one could read it and find answers using the subject index in the back. But that seems to be out of fashion considering that neither Twitter nor Facebook, LinkedIN nor Xing have any of these things…. not even a proper pdf file.nnWhat a shame and surprise at the same time. Amazing that users are willing to put up with this kind of bad user experience….nnBut even software vendors like aMember appear to prefer ignoring usability issues instead of improving user experience. For instance, u00a0making it impossible to remove a user from autoresponder mails (uncheck option box for a particular user, she still gets autoresponder mails). Worst is that users apparently seem willing to accept such shabby service u00a0and for me worst is that some vendors appear to get away with it….nn==> http://amember.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11478&highlight=unsubscribennCecilia, thanks so much for sharing and I hope that you will comment again soon on our blognnUrsnMy.ComMetrics.com – benchmark your blog – improve performancen(PS. leave your email address if you wish to get the latest post that way – see field upper right column on blog).
http://My.ComMetrics.com Urs E. Gattiker

CeciliannThanks for writing your first blog comment on our blog. This is a real privilege for me, thank you so much.nnCULTUREnI find your point about cultural differences in social networks quite interesting. For instance, I startedu00a0Xing – Social Media Monitoring (click on link to the left) in early November and it has taken until yesterday to get about 75 members.nnYes, Christmas Holidays may have made it a bit more difficult to attract new members. u00a0It also took until late January until we got into swing of things (i.e. other people commenting and contributing regularly besides the moderators).nnThis indicates THREE thingsnn1) Europeans take their public holidays seriously — and let the social networking side of things rest while focusing on family instead :-)nn2) Asu00a0Rachel Happe commentsu00a0more than 90% of blog readers or group members on networks like LinkedIn or Xing are lurkers that read but rarely if ever contribute to the discussions. It takes time to jump into the water and start commenting – see your experience with blogs although you are active in Xing groups I know.nn3) Related to point 2 is Judy Dunn’s comment that suggests that for most people it is difficult to write a comment or meaningful answer online going beyond the ‘I like this.’nnSo building a group on LinkedIN might go a bit faster than Xing. Nevertheless, u00a0this does not mean that the quality of the latter is worse. In fact, as you point out, self-branding and spam is less of an issue on Xing compared to LinkedIn.nnMECHANICSnWhat does help is if one can get a daily digest (LinkedIn) or an RSS feed (Xing) of those groups one is a member of. Unfortunately, neither LinkedIn offers an RSS feed for groups nor does Xing a daily digest via eMail.nnAs well, with Xing I had to first figure out that the group had to become open to enable the setting up of an RSS feed.nAs with Facebook or other places, both LinkedIn and Xing are not that great as far as usability is concerned. You kind of have to learn how to make the mechanics/features work best for you.nnI remember the wonderful time when one got a manual (paper it was) and one could read it and find answers using the subject index in the back. But that seems to be out of fashion considering that neither Twitter nor Facebook, LinkedIN nor Xing have any of these things…. not even a proper pdf file.nnWhat a shame and surprise at the same time. Amazing that users are willing to put up with this kind of bad user experience….nnBut even software vendors like aMember appear to prefer ignoring usability issues instead of improving user experience. For instance, u00a0making it impossible to remove a user from autoresponder mails (uncheck option box for a particular user, she still gets autoresponder mails). Worst is that users apparently seem willing to accept such shabby service u00a0and for me worst is that some vendors appear to get away with it….nn==> http://amember.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11478&highlight=unsubscribennCecilia, thanks so much for sharing and I hope that you will comment again soon on our blognnUrsnMy.ComMetrics.com – benchmark your blog – improve performancen(PS. leave your email address if you wish to get the latest post that way – see field upper right column on blog).
http://My.ComMetrics.com Urs E. Gattiker

CeciliannThanks for writing your first blog comment on our blog. This is a real privilege for me, thank you so much.nnCULTUREnI find your point about cultural differences in social networks quite interesting. For instance, I startedu00a0Xing – Social Media Monitoring (click on link to the left) in early November and it has taken until yesterday to get about 75 members.nnYes, Christmas Holidays may have made it a bit more difficult to attract new members. u00a0It also took until late January until we got into swing of things (i.e. other people commenting and contributing regularly besides the moderators).nnThis indicates THREE thingsnn1) Europeans take their public holidays seriously — and let the social networking side of things rest while focusing on family instead :-)nn2) Asu00a0Rachel Happe commentsu00a0more than 90% of blog readers or group members on networks like LinkedIn or Xing are lurkers that read but rarely if ever contribute to the discussions. It takes time to jump into the water and start commenting – see your experience with blogs although you are active in Xing groups I know.nn3) Related to point 2 is Judy Dunn’s comment that suggests that for most people it is difficult to write a comment or meaningful answer online going beyond the ‘I like this.’nnSo building a group on LinkedIN might go a bit faster than Xing. Nevertheless, u00a0this does not mean that the quality of the latter is worse. In fact, as you point out, self-branding and spam is less of an issue on Xing compared to LinkedIn.nnMECHANICSnWhat does help is if one can get a daily digest (LinkedIn) or an RSS feed (Xing) of those groups one is a member of. Unfortunately, neither LinkedIn offers an RSS feed for groups nor does Xing a daily digest via eMail.nnAs well, with Xing I had to first figure out that the group had to become open to enable the setting up of an RSS feed.nAs with Facebook or other places, both LinkedIn and Xing are not that great as far as usability is concerned. You kind of have to learn how to make the mechanics/features work best for you.nnI remember the wonderful time when one got a manual (paper it was) and one could read it and find answers using the subject index in the back. But that seems to be out of fashion considering that neither Twitter nor Facebook, LinkedIN nor Xing have any of these things…. not even a proper pdf file.nnWhat a shame and surprise at the same time. Amazing that users are willing to put up with this kind of bad user experience….nnBut even software vendors like aMember appear to prefer ignoring usability issues instead of improving user experience. For instance, u00a0making it impossible to remove a user from autoresponder mails (uncheck option box for a particular user, she still gets autoresponder mails). Worst is that users apparently seem willing to accept such shabby service u00a0and for me worst is that some vendors appear to get away with it….nn==> http://amember.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11478&highlight=unsubscribennCecilia, thanks so much for sharing and I hope that you will comment again soon on our blognnUrsnMy.ComMetrics.com – benchmark your blog – improve performancen(PS. leave your email address if you wish to get the latest post that way – see field upper right column on blog).
http://My.ComMetrics.com Urs E. Gattiker

CeciliannThanks for writing your first blog comment on our blog. This is a real privilege for me, thank you so much.nnCULTUREnI find your point about cultural differences in social networks quite interesting. For instance, I startedu00a0Xing – Social Media Monitoring (click on link to the left) in early November and it has taken until yesterday to get about 75 members.nnYes, Christmas Holidays may have made it a bit more difficult to attract new members. u00a0It also took until late January until we got into swing of things (i.e. other people commenting and contributing regularly besides the moderators).nnThis indicates THREE thingsnn1) Europeans take their public holidays seriously — and let the social networking side of things rest while focusing on family instead :-)nn2) Asu00a0Rachel Happe commentsu00a0more than 90% of blog readers or group members on networks like LinkedIn or Xing are lurkers that read but rarely if ever contribute to the discussions. It takes time to jump into the water and start commenting – see your experience with blogs although you are active in Xing groups I know.nn3) Related to point 2 is Judy Dunn’s comment that suggests that for most people it is difficult to write a comment or meaningful answer online going beyond the ‘I like this.’nnSo building a group on LinkedIN might go a bit faster than Xing. Nevertheless, u00a0this does not mean that the quality of the latter is worse. In fact, as you point out, self-branding and spam is less of an issue on Xing compared to LinkedIn.nnMECHANICSnWhat does help is if one can get a daily digest (LinkedIn) or an RSS feed (Xing) of those groups one is a member of. Unfortunately, neither LinkedIn offers an RSS feed for groups nor does Xing a daily digest via eMail.nnAs well, with Xing I had to first figure out that the group had to become open to enable the setting up of an RSS feed.nAs with Facebook or other places, both LinkedIn and Xing are not that great as far as usability is concerned. You kind of have to learn how to make the mechanics/features work best for you.nnI remember the wonderful time when one got a manual (paper it was) and one could read it and find answers using the subject index in the back. But that seems to be out of fashion considering that neither Twitter nor Facebook, LinkedIN nor Xing have any of these things…. not even a proper pdf file.nnWhat a shame and surprise at the same time. Amazing that users are willing to put up with this kind of bad user experience….nnBut even software vendors like aMember appear to prefer ignoring usability issues instead of improving user experience. For instance, u00a0making it impossible to remove a user from autoresponder mails (uncheck option box for a particular user, she still gets autoresponder mails). Worst is that users apparently seem willing to accept such shabby service u00a0and for me worst is that some vendors appear to get away with it….nn==> http://amember.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11478&highlight=unsubscribennCecilia, thanks so much for sharing and I hope that you will comment again soon on our blognnUrsnMy.ComMetrics.com – benchmark your blog – improve performancen(PS. leave your email address if you wish to get the latest post that way – see field upper right column on blog).
http://My.ComMetrics.com Urs E. Gattiker

CeciliannThanks for writing your first blog comment on our blog. This is a real privilege for me, thank you so much.nnCULTUREnI find your point about cultural differences in social networks quite interesting. For instance, I startedu00a0Xing – Social Media Monitoring (click on link to the left) in early November and it has taken until yesterday to get about 75 members.nnYes, Christmas Holidays may have made it a bit more difficult to attract new members. u00a0It also took until late January until we got into swing of things (i.e. other people commenting and contributing regularly besides the moderators).nnThis indicates THREE thingsnn1) Europeans take their public holidays seriously — and let the social networking side of things rest while focusing on family instead :-)nn2) Asu00a0Rachel Happe commentsu00a0more than 90% of blog readers or group members on networks like LinkedIn or Xing are lurkers that read but rarely if ever contribute to the discussions. It takes time to jump into the water and start commenting – see your experience with blogs although you are active in Xing groups I know.nn3) Related to point 2 is Judy Dunn’s comment that suggests that for most people it is difficult to write a comment or meaningful answer online going beyond the ‘I like this.’nnSo building a group on LinkedIN might go a bit faster than Xing. Nevertheless, u00a0this does not mean that the quality of the latter is worse. In fact, as you point out, self-branding and spam is less of an issue on Xing compared to LinkedIn.nnMECHANICSnWhat does help is if one can get a daily digest (LinkedIn) or an RSS feed (Xing) of those groups one is a member of. Unfortunately, neither LinkedIn offers an RSS feed for groups nor does Xing a daily digest via eMail.nnAs well, with Xing I had to first figure out that the group had to become open to enable the setting up of an RSS feed.nAs with Facebook or other places, both LinkedIn and Xing are not that great as far as usability is concerned. You kind of have to learn how to make the mechanics/features work best for you.nnI remember the wonderful time when one got a manual (paper it was) and one could read it and find answers using the subject index in the back. But that seems to be out of fashion considering that neither Twitter nor Facebook, LinkedIN nor Xing have any of these things…. not even a proper pdf file.nnWhat a shame and surprise at the same time. Amazing that users are willing to put up with this kind of bad user experience….nnBut even software vendors like aMember appear to prefer ignoring usability issues instead of improving user experience. For instance, u00a0making it impossible to remove a user from autoresponder mails (uncheck option box for a particular user, she still gets autoresponder mails). Worst is that users apparently seem willing to accept such shabby service u00a0and for me worst is that some vendors appear to get away with it….nn==> http://amember.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11478&highlight=unsubscribennCecilia, thanks so much for sharing and I hope that you will comment again soon on our blognnUrsnMy.ComMetrics.com – benchmark your blog – improve performancen(PS. leave your email address if you wish to get the latest post that way – see field upper right column on blog).
http://My.ComMetrics.com Urs E. Gattiker

CeciliannThanks for writing your first blog comment on our blog. This is a real privilege for me, thank you so much.nnCULTUREnI find your point about cultural differences in social networks quite interesting. For instance, I startedu00a0Xing – Social Media Monitoring (click on link to the left) in early November and it has taken until yesterday to get about 75 members.nnYes, Christmas Holidays may have made it a bit more difficult to attract new members. u00a0It also took until late January until we got into swing of things (i.e. other people commenting and contributing regularly besides the moderators).nnThis indicates THREE thingsnn1) Europeans take their public holidays seriously — and let the social networking side of things rest while focusing on family instead :-)nn2) Asu00a0Rachel Happe commentsu00a0more than 90% of blog readers or group members on networks like LinkedIn or Xing are lurkers that read but rarely if ever contribute to the discussions. It takes time to jump into the water and start commenting – see your experience with blogs although you are active in Xing groups I know.nn3) Related to point 2 is Judy Dunn’s comment that suggests that for most people it is difficult to write a comment or meaningful answer online going beyond the ‘I like this.’nnSo building a group on LinkedIN might go a bit faster than Xing. Nevertheless, u00a0this does not mean that the quality of the latter is worse. In fact, as you point out, self-branding and spam is less of an issue on Xing compared to LinkedIn.nnMECHANICSnWhat does help is if one can get a daily digest (LinkedIn) or an RSS feed (Xing) of those groups one is a member of. Unfortunately, neither LinkedIn offers an RSS feed for groups nor does Xing a daily digest via eMail.nnAs well, with Xing I had to first figure out that the group had to become open to enable the setting up of an RSS feed.nAs with Facebook or other places, both LinkedIn and Xing are not that great as far as usability is concerned. You kind of have to learn how to make the mechanics/features work best for you.nnI remember the wonderful time when one got a manual (paper it was) and one could read it and find answers using the subject index in the back. But that seems to be out of fashion considering that neither Twitter nor Facebook, LinkedIN nor Xing have any of these things…. not even a proper pdf file.nnWhat a shame and surprise at the same time. Amazing that users are willing to put up with this kind of bad user experience….nnBut even software vendors like aMember appear to prefer ignoring usability issues instead of improving user experience. For instance, u00a0making it impossible to remove a user from autoresponder mails (uncheck option box for a particular user, she still gets autoresponder mails). Worst is that users apparently seem willing to accept such shabby service u00a0and for me worst is that some vendors appear to get away with it….nn==> http://amember.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11478&highlight=unsubscribennCecilia, thanks so much for sharing and I hope that you will comment again soon on our blognnUrsnMy.ComMetrics.com – benchmark your blog – improve performancen(PS. leave your email address if you wish to get the latest post that way – see field upper right column on blog).
http://My.ComMetrics.com Urs E. Gattiker

CeciliannThanks for writing your first blog comment on our blog. This is a real privilege for me, thank you so much.nnCULTUREnI find your point about cultural differences in social networks quite interesting. For instance, I startedu00a0Xing – Social Media Monitoring (click on link to the left) in early November and it has taken until yesterday to get about 75 members.nnYes, Christmas Holidays may have made it a bit more difficult to attract new members. u00a0It also took until late January until we got into swing of things (i.e. other people commenting and contributing regularly besides the moderators).nnThis indicates THREE thingsnn1) Europeans take their public holidays seriously — and let the social networking side of things rest while focusing on family instead :-)nn2) Asu00a0Rachel Happe commentsu00a0more than 90% of blog readers or group members on networks like LinkedIn or Xing are lurkers that read but rarely if ever contribute to the discussions. It takes time to jump into the water and start commenting – see your experience with blogs although you are active in Xing groups I know.nn3) Related to point 2 is Judy Dunn’s comment that suggests that for most people it is difficult to write a comment or meaningful answer online going beyond the ‘I like this.’nnSo building a group on LinkedIN might go a bit faster than Xing. Nevertheless, u00a0this does not mean that the quality of the latter is worse. In fact, as you point out, self-branding and spam is less of an issue on Xing compared to LinkedIn.nnMECHANICSnWhat does help is if one can get a daily digest (LinkedIn) or an RSS feed (Xing) of those groups one is a member of. Unfortunately, neither LinkedIn offers an RSS feed for groups nor does Xing a daily digest via eMail.nnAs well, with Xing I had to first figure out that the group had to become open to enable the setting up of an RSS feed.nAs with Facebook or other places, both LinkedIn and Xing are not that great as far as usability is concerned. You kind of have to learn how to make the mechanics/features work best for you.nnI remember the wonderful time when one got a manual (paper it was) and one could read it and find answers using the subject index in the back. But that seems to be out of fashion considering that neither Twitter nor Facebook, LinkedIN nor Xing have any of these things…. not even a proper pdf file.nnWhat a shame and surprise at the same time. Amazing that users are willing to put up with this kind of bad user experience….nnBut even software vendors like aMember appear to prefer ignoring usability issues instead of improving user experience. For instance, u00a0making it impossible to remove a user from autoresponder mails (uncheck option box for a particular user, she still gets autoresponder mails). Worst is that users apparently seem willing to accept such shabby service u00a0and for me worst is that some vendors appear to get away with it….nn==> http://amember.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11478&highlight=unsubscribennCecilia, thanks so much for sharing and I hope that you will comment again soon on our blognnUrsnMy.ComMetrics.com – benchmark your blog – improve performancen(PS. leave your email address if you wish to get the latest post that way – see field upper right column on blog).
http://My.ComMetrics.com Urs E. Gattiker

CeciliannThanks for writing your first blog comment on our blog. This is a real privilege for me, thank you so much.nnCULTUREnI find your point about cultural differences in social networks quite interesting. For instance, I startedu00a0Xing – Social Media Monitoring (click on link to the left) in early November and it has taken until yesterday to get about 75 members.nnYes, Christmas Holidays may have made it a bit more difficult to attract new members. u00a0It also took until late January until we got into swing of things (i.e. other people commenting and contributing regularly besides the moderators).nnThis indicates THREE thingsnn1) Europeans take their public holidays seriously — and let the social networking side of things rest while focusing on family instead :-)nn2) Asu00a0Rachel Happe commentsu00a0more than 90% of blog readers or group members on networks like LinkedIn or Xing are lurkers that read but rarely if ever contribute to the discussions. It takes time to jump into the water and start commenting – see your experience with blogs although you are active in Xing groups I know.nn3) Related to point 2 is Judy Dunn’s comment that suggests that for most people it is difficult to write a comment or meaningful answer online going beyond the ‘I like this.’nnSo building a group on LinkedIN might go a bit faster than Xing. Nevertheless, u00a0this does not mean that the quality of the latter is worse. In fact, as you point out, self-branding and spam is less of an issue on Xing compared to LinkedIn.nnMECHANICSnWhat does help is if one can get a daily digest (LinkedIn) or an RSS feed (Xing) of those groups one is a member of. Unfortunately, neither LinkedIn offers an RSS feed for groups nor does Xing a daily digest via eMail.nnAs well, with Xing I had to first figure out that the group had to become open to enable the setting up of an RSS feed.nAs with Facebook or other places, both LinkedIn and Xing are not that great as far as usability is concerned. You kind of have to learn how to make the mechanics/features work best for you.nnI remember the wonderful time when one got a manual (paper it was) and one could read it and find answers using the subject index in the back. But that seems to be out of fashion considering that neither Twitter nor Facebook, LinkedIN nor Xing have any of these things…. not even a proper pdf file.nnWhat a shame and surprise at the same time. Amazing that users are willing to put up with this kind of bad user experience….nnBut even software vendors like aMember appear to prefer ignoring usability issues instead of improving user experience. For instance, u00a0making it impossible to remove a user from autoresponder mails (uncheck option box for a particular user, she still gets autoresponder mails). Worst is that users apparently seem willing to accept such shabby service u00a0and for me worst is that some vendors appear to get away with it….nn==> http://amember.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11478&highlight=unsubscribennCecilia, thanks so much for sharing and I hope that you will comment again soon on our blognnUrsnMy.ComMetrics.com – benchmark your blog – improve performancen(PS. leave your email address if you wish to get the latest post that way – see field upper right column on blog).
http://My.ComMetrics.com Urs E. Gattiker

CeciliannThanks for writing your first blog comment on our blog. This is a real privilege for me, thank you so much.nnCULTUREnI find your point about cultural differences in social networks quite interesting. For instance, I startedu00a0Xing – Social Media Monitoring (click on link to the left) in early November and it has taken until yesterday to get about 75 members.nnYes, Christmas Holidays may have made it a bit more difficult to attract new members. u00a0It also took until late January until we got into swing of things (i.e. other people commenting and contributing regularly besides the moderators).nnThis indicates THREE thingsnn1) Europeans take their public holidays seriously — and let the social networking side of things rest while focusing on family instead :-)nn2) Asu00a0Rachel Happe commentsu00a0more than 90% of blog readers or group members on networks like LinkedIn or Xing are lurkers that read but rarely if ever contribute to the discussions. It takes time to jump into the water and start commenting – see your experience with blogs although you are active in Xing groups I know.nn3) Related to point 2 is Judy Dunn’s comment that suggests that for most people it is difficult to write a comment or meaningful answer online going beyond the ‘I like this.’nnSo building a group on LinkedIN might go a bit faster than Xing. Nevertheless, u00a0this does not mean that the quality of the latter is worse. In fact, as you point out, self-branding and spam is less of an issue on Xing compared to LinkedIn.nnMECHANICSnWhat does help is if one can get a daily digest (LinkedIn) or an RSS feed (Xing) of those groups one is a member of. Unfortunately, neither LinkedIn offers an RSS feed for groups nor does Xing a daily digest via eMail.nnAs well, with Xing I had to first figure out that the group had to become open to enable the setting up of an RSS feed.nAs with Facebook or other places, both LinkedIn and Xing are not that great as far as usability is concerned. You kind of have to learn how to make the mechanics/features work best for you.nnI remember the wonderful time when one got a manual (paper it was) and one could read it and find answers using the subject index in the back. But that seems to be out of fashion considering that neither Twitter nor Facebook, LinkedIN nor Xing have any of these things…. not even a proper pdf file.nnWhat a shame and surprise at the same time. Amazing that users are willing to put up with this kind of bad user experience….nnBut even software vendors like aMember appear to prefer ignoring usability issues instead of improving user experience. For instance, u00a0making it impossible to remove a user from autoresponder mails (uncheck option box for a particular user, she still gets autoresponder mails). Worst is that users apparently seem willing to accept such shabby service u00a0and for me worst is that some vendors appear to get away with it….nn==> http://amember.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11478&highlight=unsubscribennCecilia, thanks so much for sharing and I hope that you will comment again soon on our blognnUrsnMy.ComMetrics.com – benchmark your blog – improve performancen(PS. leave your email address if you wish to get the latest post that way – see field upper right column on blog).
http://My.ComMetrics.com Urs E. Gattiker

CeciliannThanks for writing your first blog comment on our blog. This is a real privilege for me, thank you so much.nnCULTUREnI find your point about cultural differences in social networks quite interesting. For instance, I startedu00a0Xing – Social Media Monitoring (click on link to the left) in early November and it has taken until yesterday to get about 75 members.nnYes, Christmas Holidays may have made it a bit more difficult to attract new members. u00a0It also took until late January until we got into swing of things (i.e. other people commenting and contributing regularly besides the moderators).nnThis indicates THREE thingsnn1) Europeans take their public holidays seriously — and let the social networking side of things rest while focusing on family instead :-)nn2) Asu00a0Rachel Happe commentsu00a0more than 90% of blog readers or group members on networks like LinkedIn or Xing are lurkers that read but rarely if ever contribute to the discussions. It takes time to jump into the water and start commenting – see your experience with blogs although you are active in Xing groups I know.nn3) Related to point 2 is Judy Dunn’s comment that suggests that for most people it is difficult to write a comment or meaningful answer online going beyond the ‘I like this.’nnSo building a group on LinkedIN might go a bit faster than Xing. Nevertheless, u00a0this does not mean that the quality of the latter is worse. In fact, as you point out, self-branding and spam is less of an issue on Xing compared to LinkedIn.nnMECHANICSnWhat does help is if one can get a daily digest (LinkedIn) or an RSS feed (Xing) of those groups one is a member of. Unfortunately, neither LinkedIn offers an RSS feed for groups nor does Xing a daily digest via eMail.nnAs well, with Xing I had to first figure out that the group had to become open to enable the setting up of an RSS feed.nAs with Facebook or other places, both LinkedIn and Xing are not that great as far as usability is concerned. You kind of have to learn how to make the mechanics/features work best for you.nnI remember the wonderful time when one got a manual (paper it was) and one could read it and find answers using the subject index in the back. But that seems to be out of fashion considering that neither Twitter nor Facebook, LinkedIN nor Xing have any of these things…. not even a proper pdf file.nnWhat a shame and surprise at the same time. Amazing that users are willing to put up with this kind of bad user experience….nnBut even software vendors like aMember appear to prefer ignoring usability issues instead of improving user experience. For instance, u00a0making it impossible to remove a user from autoresponder mails (uncheck option box for a particular user, she still gets autoresponder mails). Worst is that users apparently seem willing to accept such shabby service u00a0and for me worst is that some vendors appear to get away with it….nn==> http://amember.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11478&highlight=unsubscribennCecilia, thanks so much for sharing and I hope that you will comment again soon on our blognnUrsnMy.ComMetrics.com – benchmark your blog – improve performancen(PS. leave your email address if you wish to get the latest post that way – see field upper right column on blog).
http://My.ComMetrics.com Urs E. Gattiker

CeciliannThanks for writing your first blog comment on our blog. This is a real privilege for me, thank you so much.nnCULTUREnI find your point about cultural differences in social networks quite interesting. For instance, I startedu00a0Xing – Social Media Monitoring (click on link to the left) in early November and it has taken until yesterday to get about 75 members.nnYes, Christmas Holidays may have made it a bit more difficult to attract new members. u00a0It also took until late January until we got into swing of things (i.e. other people commenting and contributing regularly besides the moderators).nnThis indicates THREE thingsnn1) Europeans take their public holidays seriously — and let the social networking side of things rest while focusing on family instead :-)nn2) Asu00a0Rachel Happe commentsu00a0more than 90% of blog readers or group members on networks like LinkedIn or Xing are lurkers that read but rarely if ever contribute to the discussions. It takes time to jump into the water and start commenting – see your experience with blogs although you are active in Xing groups I know.nn3) Related to point 2 is Judy Dunn’s comment that suggests that for most people it is difficult to write a comment or meaningful answer online going beyond the ‘I like this.’nnSo building a group on LinkedIN might go a bit faster than Xing. Nevertheless, u00a0this does not mean that the quality of the latter is worse. In fact, as you point out, self-branding and spam is less of an issue on Xing compared to LinkedIn.nnMECHANICSnWhat does help is if one can get a daily digest (LinkedIn) or an RSS feed (Xing) of those groups one is a member of. Unfortunately, neither LinkedIn offers an RSS feed for groups nor does Xing a daily digest via eMail.nnAs well, with Xing I had to first figure out that the group had to become open to enable the setting up of an RSS feed.nAs with Facebook or other places, both LinkedIn and Xing are not that great as far as usability is concerned. You kind of have to learn how to make the mechanics/features work best for you.nnI remember the wonderful time when one got a manual (paper it was) and one could read it and find answers using the subject index in the back. But that seems to be out of fashion considering that neither Twitter nor Facebook, LinkedIN nor Xing have any of these things…. not even a proper pdf file.nnWhat a shame and surprise at the same time. Amazing that users are willing to put up with this kind of bad user experience….nnBut even software vendors like aMember appear to prefer ignoring usability issues instead of improving user experience. For instance, u00a0making it impossible to remove a user from autoresponder mails (uncheck option box for a particular user, she still gets autoresponder mails). Worst is that users apparently seem willing to accept such shabby service u00a0and for me worst is that some vendors appear to get away with it….nn==> http://amember.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11478&highlight=unsubscribennCecilia, thanks so much for sharing and I hope that you will comment again soon on our blognnUrsnMy.ComMetrics.com – benchmark your blog – improve performancen(PS. leave your email address if you wish to get the latest post that way – see field upper right column on blog).
http://My.ComMetrics.com Urs E. Gattiker

CeciliannThanks for writing your first blog comment on our blog. This is a real privilege for me, thank you so much.nnCULTUREnI find your point about cultural differences in social networks quite interesting. For instance, I startedu00a0Xing – Social Media Monitoring (click on link to the left) in early November and it has taken until yesterday to get about 75 members.nnYes, Christmas Holidays may have made it a bit more difficult to attract new members. u00a0It also took until late January until we got into swing of things (i.e. other people commenting and contributing regularly besides the moderators).nnThis indicates THREE thingsnn1) Europeans take their public holidays seriously — and let the social networking side of things rest while focusing on family instead :-)nn2) Asu00a0Rachel Happe commentsu00a0more than 90% of blog readers or group members on networks like LinkedIn or Xing are lurkers that read but rarely if ever contribute to the discussions. It takes time to jump into the water and start commenting – see your experience with blogs although you are active in Xing groups I know.nn3) Related to point 2 is Judy Dunn’s comment that suggests that for most people it is difficult to write a comment or meaningful answer online going beyond the ‘I like this.’nnSo building a group on LinkedIN might go a bit faster than Xing. Nevertheless, u00a0this does not mean that the quality of the latter is worse. In fact, as you point out, self-branding and spam is less of an issue on Xing compared to LinkedIn.nnMECHANICSnWhat does help is if one can get a daily digest (LinkedIn) or an RSS feed (Xing) of those groups one is a member of. Unfortunately, neither LinkedIn offers an RSS feed for groups nor does Xing a daily digest via eMail.nnAs well, with Xing I had to first figure out that the group had to become open to enable the setting up of an RSS feed.nAs with Facebook or other places, both LinkedIn and Xing are not that great as far as usability is concerned. You kind of have to learn how to make the mechanics/features work best for you.nnI remember the wonderful time when one got a manual (paper it was) and one could read it and find answers using the subject index in the back. But that seems to be out of fashion considering that neither Twitter nor Facebook, LinkedIN nor Xing have any of these things…. not even a proper pdf file.nnWhat a shame and surprise at the same time. Amazing that users are willing to put up with this kind of bad user experience….nnBut even software vendors like aMember appear to prefer ignoring usability issues instead of improving user experience. For instance, u00a0making it impossible to remove a user from autoresponder mails (uncheck option box for a particular user, she still gets autoresponder mails). Worst is that users apparently seem willing to accept such shabby service u00a0and for me worst is that some vendors appear to get away with it….nn==> http://amember.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11478&highlight=unsubscribennCecilia, thanks so much for sharing and I hope that you will comment again soon on our blognnUrsnMy.ComMetrics.com – benchmark your blog – improve performancen(PS. leave your email address if you wish to get the latest post that way – see field upper right column on blog).
http://My.ComMetrics.com Urs E. Gattiker

CeciliannThanks for writing your first blog comment on our blog. This is a real privilege for me, thank you so much.nnCULTUREnI find your point about cultural differences in social networks quite interesting. For instance, I startedu00a0Xing – Social Media Monitoring (click on link to the left) in early November and it has taken until yesterday to get about 75 members.nnYes, Christmas Holidays may have made it a bit more difficult to attract new members. u00a0It also took until late January until we got into swing of things (i.e. other people commenting and contributing regularly besides the moderators).nnThis indicates THREE thingsnn1) Europeans take their public holidays seriously — and let the social networking side of things rest while focusing on family instead :-)nn2) Asu00a0Rachel Happe commentsu00a0more than 90% of blog readers or group members on networks like LinkedIn or Xing are lurkers that read but rarely if ever contribute to the discussions. It takes time to jump into the water and start commenting – see your experience with blogs although you are active in Xing groups I know.nn3) Related to point 2 is Judy Dunn’s comment that suggests that for most people it is difficult to write a comment or meaningful answer online going beyond the ‘I like this.’nnSo building a group on LinkedIN might go a bit faster than Xing. Nevertheless, u00a0this does not mean that the quality of the latter is worse. In fact, as you point out, self-branding and spam is less of an issue on Xing compared to LinkedIn.nnMECHANICSnWhat does help is if one can get a daily digest (LinkedIn) or an RSS feed (Xing) of those groups one is a member of. Unfortunately, neither LinkedIn offers an RSS feed for groups nor does Xing a daily digest via eMail.nnAs well, with Xing I had to first figure out that the group had to become open to enable the setting up of an RSS feed.nAs with Facebook or other places, both LinkedIn and Xing are not that great as far as usability is concerned. You kind of have to learn how to make the mechanics/features work best for you.nnI remember the wonderful time when one got a manual (paper it was) and one could read it and find answers using the subject index in the back. But that seems to be out of fashion considering that neither Twitter nor Facebook, LinkedIN nor Xing have any of these things…. not even a proper pdf file.nnWhat a shame and surprise at the same time. Amazing that users are willing to put up with this kind of bad user experience….nnBut even software vendors like aMember appear to prefer ignoring usability issues instead of improving user experience. For instance, u00a0making it impossible to remove a user from autoresponder mails (uncheck option box for a particular user, she still gets autoresponder mails). Worst is that users apparently seem willing to accept such shabby service u00a0and for me worst is that some vendors appear to get away with it….nn==> http://amember.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11478&highlight=unsubscribennCecilia, thanks so much for sharing and I hope that you will comment again soon on our blognnUrsnMy.ComMetrics.com – benchmark your blog – improve performancen(PS. leave your email address if you wish to get the latest post that way – see field upper right column on blog).
Pingback: CyTRAP
Pingback: Urs E. Gattiker
Pingback: Ray van den Bel
http://My.ComMetrics.com Urs E. Gattiker

Cecilia

Thanks for writing your first blog comment on our blog. This is a real privilege for me, thank you so much.

CULTURE
I find your point about cultural differences in social networks quite interesting. For instance, I started Xing – Social Media Monitoring (click on link to the left) in early November and it has taken until yesterday to get about 75 members.

Yes, Christmas Holidays may have made it a bit more difficult to attract new members. It also took until late January until we got into swing of things (i.e. other people commenting and contributing regularly besides the moderators).

This indicates THREE things

1) Europeans take their public holidays seriously — and let the social networking side of things rest while focusing on family instead

2) As Rachel Happe comments more than 90% of blog readers or group members on networks like LinkedIn or Xing are lurkers that read but rarely if ever contribute to the discussions. It takes time to jump into the water and start commenting – see your experience with blogs although you are active in Xing groups I know.

3) Related to point 2 is Judy Dunn's comment that suggests that for most people it is difficult to write a comment or meaningful answer online going beyond the 'I like this.'

So building a group on LinkedIN might go a bit faster than Xing. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the quality of the latter is worse. In fact, as you point out, self-branding and spam is less of an issue on Xing compared to LinkedIn.

MECHANICS
What does help is if one can get a daily digest (LinkedIn) or an RSS feed (Xing) of those groups one is a member of. Unfortunately, neither LinkedIn offers an RSS feed for groups nor does Xing a daily digest via eMail.

As well, with Xing I had to first figure out that the group had to become open to enable the setting up of an RSS feed.
As with Facebook or other places, both LinkedIn and Xing are not that great as far as usability is concerned. You kind of have to learn how to make the mechanics/features work best for you.

I remember the wonderful time when one got a manual (paper it was) and one could read it and find answers using the subject index in the back. But that seems to be out of fashion considering that neither Twitter nor Facebook, LinkedIN nor Xing have any of these things…. not even a proper pdf file.

What a shame and surprise at the same time. Amazing that users are willing to put up with this kind of bad user experience….

But even software vendors like aMember appear to prefer ignoring usability issues instead of improving user experience. For instance, making it impossible to remove a user from autoresponder mails (uncheck option box for a particular user, she still gets autoresponder mails). Worst is that users apparently seem willing to accept such shabby service and for me worst is that some vendors appear to get away with it….

==> http://amember.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11478…

Cecilia, thanks so much for sharing and I hope that you will comment again soon on our blog

Urs
My.ComMetrics.com – benchmark your blog – improve performance
(PS. leave your email address if you wish to get the latest post that way – see field upper right column on blog).
Pingback: Urs E. Gattiker
Pingback: MyComMetrics
Pingback: CyTRAP
Pingback: 7thSen.se LinkedIn
Pingback: World Economic Forum
Pingback: economics connection

Previous post: ComMetrics weekly review: Pepsi to iPhone via Google

Next post: ComMetrics weekly review: BarCamp to Morgan Stanley via eBay

3 golden rules for best practice: LinkedIn and Xing

Pages