Web's Largest BlackBerry Community Comes to LinkedIn Groups
Last week we spoke with Hayden James, the president of PinStack.com. PinStack.com is the web's largest BlackBerry community with more than 300,000 members.
On March 14th, 2008, PinStack announced it had officially chosen LinkedIn for Groups to facilitate professional networking for its members.
Here's James' thoughts on the group's decision to go with LinkedIn:
Based on our website demographics, LinkedIn is a perfect fit for PinStack's group for a variety of reasons, including its ease-of-use, efficiency, the seniority of members and its privacy standards. Approximately 40% percent of PinStack.com members already use LinkedIn to generate business opportunities. By joining the PinStack group on LinkedIn individual members enhance their network and open doors leading to business opportunities and BlackBerry professionals on an international level.
If you're a BlackBerry user/fanatic, here's the invitation to join the PinStack group on LinkedIn:
By joining the PinStack group on LinkedIn, members will be able to access other PinStack members and Blackberry professionals directly or through referrals from shared contacts. Members also have access to the group directory with rich contact information, professional histories and endorsements. Members can also conduct focused searches on group members using criteria such as geography and areas of interest.
Needless to stay, we're pleased that this group of professionals is choosing to network online via LinkedIn.
Sébastien D. Mar 20, 2008
Hi,
It is great to see our networking opportunities increase with the number of interesting groups on the platform but, as a LinkedIn group manager, I’ve been having problems in communicating with the LinkedIn group customer support service for the past couple of days.
My group (Expat Network http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/40533/67C6E34C5D1B)
has been suspended for more than 60 hours now, for what was considered “an infringement to LinkedIn user agreement” because using an “In” logo similar to the company’s one for my group’s logo.
The group had been open for 3 month, and it was very easy for me to modify the logo in minutes once I was notified. This could have been done with prior notification and without having to suspend the group. After being notified by your customer service, it seems my reply message could not go directly to the person that contacted me and was left queuing (and is still queuing apparently) as a first contact (message header: “Status:New”).
I hope these remarks can help improve your service to the users of the group application on LinkedIn.
It would be interesting also to have some more information on what new features (if any) LinkedIn is planning to add to its group application.
Thanks,
Sébastien.
Krista Canfield Mar 21, 2008
Sébastien~
I believe we’ve resolved the issue and the suspension on your group has been lifted. Our apologies for the inconvenience. Just so you’re aware, it is LinkedIn’s policy to not allow groups to misrepresent our brand within their groups (whether it be as a part of the group name or their logo) so we can make sure that LinkedIn’s name is represented in a professional manner. Thanks for quickly making the change and modifying your logo though, it helps make our job easier when members quickly make the desired changes. We hope Expat Network continues to grow and flourish on LinkedIn.
All the best,
~Krista
Tracy Stuart Mar 21, 2008
Hey have you heard of Virtudex.com? It’s the best business social network. Invite only so here is the pass code - 1z1code
Lets see they have Blogs, Groups, Personal File manager, Homepage news feeds with RSS, the best privacy settings I've ever seen on a social networking site...
Mario Sundar Mar 24, 2008
@tracy stuart
As I'd mentioned to @jason in another post, pls. refrain from promotional material on the blog. I guess that'd make it 2 strikes :)
Jmartens Apr 21, 2008
I am having trouble seeing the real value of LinkedIn Groups (in their current form). I am a blackberry user but could care less about joining a Blackberry group on LinkedIn.
Don't groups like these dilute the value of LinkedIn? The more frivolous connections, the less valuable? Thats my opinion.
On the flip side, I am on a board at my alma mater and we recently discussed using LinkedIn to organize our alumni base. However, after further review I don't see any benefits for us other than a little bit of branding.
Any chance the 'old' format for LinkedIn groups will be coming back? Any pilot programs for more full featured Groups that we can help you out with?