LinkedIn Polls: Senator John McCain polls users on gas affordability
This is my first post on the LinkedIn Blog. I’m an associate product manager here at LinkedIn and I am excited to announce one of the early LinkedIn Polls on our site. This poll question is asked by Presidential Candidate, Senator John McCain — his LinkedIn profile can be found here.
Senator McCain asks what has the most long-term potential to make gas affordable for Americans, a topic that’s definitely on the top of voters’ minds this general election. Thus far, over 2500 professionals on LinkedIn have given their two cents. Here’s a chance to make your voice heard: join thousands of other professionals by answering Senator McCain’s question and clicking on one of the choices within the poll below. [ed: the poll is now over (oct 2008)]
Once you vote on the poll, you’ll be taken to a page that not only shows you a summary of the up-to-the-minute results, but also displays a detailed breakdown of how certain types of professionals answered this question (for example, the segment below shows how results vary if you compare the responses of business owners, C-Level executives/VPs, managers, and general employees). The below results summary was taken at 2 PM Pacific, on July 8, 2008.
For those of you interested in knowing more, LinkedIn Polls allows professionals to conduct business and market research by tapping into the wisdom of the business crowd on LinkedIn. The product is currently in beta while we work with a number of early partners who want to use LinkedIn Polls to do research. If you are interested in becoming a partner during this beta phase, click here to send us your contact information and a brief description of your company’s research objectives. Stay tuned for more polls on the site, and in the future, the ability for everyone to “poll your network” and create, target, and publish polls on LinkedIn.
Feel free to leave a comment or two. Or better yet, experience LinkedIn Polls by answering the above question from Senator McCain or viewing the results page.
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Editor’s Note: This is not an endorsement. We welcome participation from candidates of any party posing questions to our user community. We also encourage our users’ active participation both with their answers and feedback.
trackback
http://blog.linkedin.com/2008/07/09/mccain-poll/trackback/
Mary Cippera July 10th, 2008
I think the polls feature is really cool and I hope to see this used to our advantage as a company. It’s fairly common to see polls out on the Internet and most give a percentage of results. I think what you’ve done with the demographic breakout is awesome.(What about another category for LinkedIn employees?) I like the snapshot feel of it. Sort of a glimpse into the larger LinkedIn community. But unless someone participates in a poll they won’t know about it. I realize depending upon when you take the poll the numbers may only reflect a fraction of our membership but it would be cool if there were a way to check back for accumulative results. Like following the stock market through the end of the day. Also posting the date the poll will close would be helpful to see final results or at least advertising that you will be posting the final results .
Perhaps building a hyperlink to the feedback feature we receive in CS for potential topics of interest for future polls would be of value while this is in beta.
If someone did use this information for research or a specific relevant purpose what about publicizing a short paragraph, “The Poll Plug”, in place of the polls once a week. It would be another way to grab people’s attention, draw them back to the site and capitalize on the great work you are doing. Just some thoughts…
Massimo Fabbrini July 14th, 2008
This is a great way to get statistics! Do it, do it, do it! Most of the people here will love to answer frankly and get directly (i.e. on the spot) informed on the results of the opinion poll. We want more!
Cheers!
Peter Caputa November 8th, 2008
Is there any way to add “polls i created” to my public profile?
Is there any way to embed my polls in another website so I can get more people to answer them? (I want to embed it. Not just link to it.)