bloggers

LinkedIn Bloggers Group Has Moved to LinkedIn

November 2, 2010 By Des Walsh

What do I mean, the LinkedIn Bloggers group has moved to LinkedIn? With that name, wouldn’t it have been there already?

Short answer: Yes

And No

The story so far

It’s now just over five and a half years ago, in May 2005, since I teamed up with the most prolific creator of online groups I know, Vincent Wright, to help build the LinkedIn Bloggers group he had established on the Yahoo! Groups platform. Several months later we established a group of the same name on what was then known as LinkedIn for Groups and is now just LinkedIn Groups (a literally significant change in nomenclature which is almost certainly of more interest to students of history like me than to most of the millions of LinkedIn members!)

We had some great discussions on the Yahoo group, but things quietened down some time ago and, not to put too fine a point on it, conversation on the group just fizzled out.

So if the conversation has fizzled out, why move to LinkedIn Groups?

Some of us believe there is scope still to have useful discussions around blogging, plus other new/social media, and networking, especially on LinkedIn, and think the new LinkedIn Groups platform (as distinct from the old LinkedIn for Groups directory) seems to provide more scope for re-starting the conversation.

So we have now moved the focus of attention to the LinkedIn group and away from the Yahoo group (effectively mothballing the Yahoo group) .

People and topics

In a post back in 2005, only a few days after I had joined the Yahoo group, I wrote about the people we hoped to attract to LinkedIn Bloggers and how we saw the group operating:

The aim is for LinkedIn Bloggers to attract LinkedIn members who are already experienced and even expert bloggers … and also – and very importantly from my point of view – LinkedIn members who are not yet blogging and want to find out more about it, how they would go about it etc, in a friendly, professional and non-hyped setting.

I think that still lines up pretty much with how we see the group operating on the LinkedIn platform.

OK, I can’t resist sharing a bit of history but I’ll keep it brief

Just harking back for a moment to the “LinkedIn for Groups/LinkedIn Groups” distinction I made above, and promising no extended history lesson, there was no opportunity in 2005 to have a group conversation on LinkedIn. The groups then were, as far as I can recall, mainly alumni groups from colleges and companies and the LinkedIn for Groups directory gave people in those groups better intra-group networking opportunity.

The relatively new look “LinkedIn Groups” is set up for moderated discussions, has real names not the often uncommunicative Yahoo username setup. There are also, helpfully, a Promotions section (so the discussion stream does not have to be muddied) and a Jobs section (ditto re discussion).

But what if we’re giving a party and nobody comes?

That’s possible. On the other hand, we have 127 members in the group on LinkedIn and while many of the members of the Yahoo group may not migrate there are already new members in the group on LinkedIn who were not members of the Yahoo group.

I’m sure there are many LinkedIn members around the world who do not yet even know of the existence of the LinkedIn Bloggers group. Especially given that, as I discovered a day or so ago, we were not listed on the LinkedIn Groups directory. That was probably a hangover from the old days when you had to pay an annual fee to LinkedIn to have your group listed: as we had no actual activity going on there at the time we did not avail ourselves of the privilege. I’ve changed the setting there so I would expect more people will now become aware of the group’s existence and be attracted to join us.

We are definitely open for business

At this stage the group is technically a “closed” group while we arrange the furniture, so to speak. But membership for any LinkedIn member should normally be approved immediately. And one of the great advantages of the LinkedIn Groups setup is that people who apply to join the group will already be LinkedIn members (basic membership is free) which has always been a pre-requisite for membership of the group, but very difficult and sometimes impossible to establish from the Yahoo group membership application process.

We have a group of managers standing ready to serve

I am delighted that Dennis McDonald and Robyn Tippins, who each has great knowledge, experience, wisdom and good old common sense and were both such stalwarts as co-moderators on the Yahoo group, have stepped up to be managers of the LinkedIn group.

We have rules, but not too many

A draft document with rules for the group has been posted on the site. There are at present two rules (with explanations of how each applies):

Rule 1: Respect the discussion space, in terms of topic, content and tone

Rule 2: Respect your colleagues in the group

Acknowledgements

It’s appropriate to acknowledge here the great support for the group over the years from the founder, Vincent Wright, original co-moderator Dave Taylor, Dennis and Robyn as above, and co-moderator on the Yahoo group Sarah Lewis.

We are still using the logo which was donated with typical generosity by Paul Dube and approved by LinkedIn, back in the mists of LinkedIn Bloggers time.

And thanks to all the wonderful people who have contributed through sharing, discussing and debating, to what has been a truly dynamic group and will hopefully continue to provide service and enjoyment in its new place of operation.

I hope if you are not a LinkedIn Bloggers member yet you will come and check us out.

Image credits: Original image Moving House, mikecogh via Flickr, Creative Commons a-sa

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: bloggers, LinkedIn, LinkedIn Groups, online groups, Yahoo Groups

Why I’m Complying With the FTC Regime for Bloggers Even Though I Don’t Have To

October 8, 2009 By Des Walsh

A view from a blogger outside the USA about the FTC’s new “guidance” on disclosure

FTC logo One of my first thoughts on learning this week of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announcement on endorsements and testimonials was that as I don’t live in the US it does not apply to me.

One of my next thoughts was that it may be only a matter of time before there is an international conference of trade practices regulators and other countries will think, “What a great idea!” and play follow-the-leader.

So my freedom from living under the threat of fines or worse for recommending a friend’s book or course or whatever may be short-lived. Then too, I don’t have a problem with the principle of disclosure, although from what I’ve been reading around the blogosphere, I wonder if the public servants have made one of those classic mistakes, of creating a set of rules that can’t practically be enforced in any equitable way: I don’t include in “equitable” any selective targeting and cherry-picking of particular offenders or groups, by way of making an example of a few hapless bloggers and others who may be reported by competitors (see below for high level testimony to the FTC’s reliance on informers).

Background

Before I go on, and in case you didn’t catch the buzz on this matter this week and what it has to do with blogging, basically the FTC announced that it has approved final revisions to the guidance it gives to advertisers on how to keep their endorsement and testimonial ads in line with the FTC Act. Significantly for bloggers, the sub-heading on the release on the FTC site is “Changes Affect Testimonial Advertisements, Bloggers, Celebrity Endorsements”.

The full 81 page document, which can be downloaded from the FTC site, has the formal title: “.16 C.F.R. Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising: Notice Announcing Adoption of Revised Guides” and is referred to in the announcement as “the Guides”.

Some Views Around the Blogosphere

Bloggers’ concerns with the FTC announcement are encapsulated in the (wish I’d thought it up) header to Frederic Lardinois’ post on ReadWriteWeb:

FTC to Bloggers: Disclose Freebies or Face $11,000 Fine

Hat tip to Barbara Rozgonyi for her extensive roundup of views and quotes from various sources, including a very informative post by Jennifer Villaga at FastCompany with a series of comments by Richard Cleland, assistant director, division of advertising practices at the FTC. Short story? Cleland is not impressed by “$11,000 Fines!” headlines on the subject and is at pains to present the Guides in a less scary light. The sting in the tail of his comments is that competitors are quick to report others and declares that the FTC has never wanted for offers in that regard (interesting: in Australia we call this “dobbing” and it is not a complimentary term).

In a typically thoughtful post Louis Gray tells us why he is not unduly perturbed by the Guides and offers an interesting reason as to why he does not think there will be much impact on bloggers -

Because good people will continue to be good, and bad people will continue to be bad. The people who have been in a gray area thus far, and have chosen not to disclose, will likely continue to not disclose – FTC regulations or not.

He hopes bloggers who have a regular commercial arrangement with companies will have a disclosure link on their site.

In that regard I had noted previously, and quite like, the way Chris Brogan has included a Disclosures and Relationships segment on the About page of his blog.

I’m also comfortable with referencing in or at the end of a blog post that some links may have the potential to bring me some commission (as for instance with this post today on another site), however modest that may be (I don’t think I have ever had a cheque from Amazon, as the commission totals have never hit the amount required to trigger one!).

So I am fairly well disposed to the idea of the Guides insofar as they are aimed at serving the community.

And as I said at the outset of this post, I suspect it’s only a matter of time before other regulatory authorities, including our currently rather gung-ho Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), decide they too want one of those Guides things and are able to persuade their political masters that this would A Good Thing (and did someone say “electorally attractive”?). So if I tighten up my act now I won’t have much need to worry when and if that happens.

Finally, given that some 50% or so of readers of this blog and about 75% of readers of my Thinking Home Business blog are in the US, I’d prefer to have practices in place that are no doubt going to become fairly standard and that readers will therefore come to expect (even for blogs being published from elsewhere and pace Louis Gray’s hunch that the “bad guys” operating in the gray zone will not opt for more transparent habits).

Please share your thoughts on this.

Filed Under: Blogging, Government Tagged With: bloggers, disclosure, endorsements, FTC, transparency

Blog Action Day 2008 Focuses on Poverty

October 13, 2008 By Des Walsh

Wednesday this week, October 15, is Blog Action Day and the focus this year is on Poverty. I’ve posted elsewhere about this but the subject is worth the risk of a bit of repetition.

Just under an hour ago the word was that some 8,000 blogs have signed up for this event. Actually, I thought it would be more – hopefully the number will grow in the next 48 hours or so.

There are three basic ways proposed for bloggers to participate:

Publish – a blog post, a podcast, a video on the subject of poverty
Donate – microloan or donation
Promote – let others know about the day

Resources, including banners and badges, are provided.

For anyone wanting ideas on what to post about, there is a plethora of information at the Blog Action Day site, both in terms of specific information on the site and other resources to which links are provided. The documentation makes sobering reading. For example:

According to UNICEF, 26,500-30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”

You can keep up with developments by following Blog Action Day on Twitter at http://twitter.com/blogactionday

And if you are participating, don’t forget to register your blog at the Blog Action Day site.

Filed Under: Blogging, Events, Social Media Tagged With: Blog Action Day, bloggers, blogs, children, poverty, UNICEF

PR People Reach Out to Bloggers, Sans Blog

April 2, 2008 By Des Walsh

Here’s a challenge for some PR folks:

they have figured out that their interests and their clients might be better served if they could get their story picked up by bloggers
they are not bloggers themselves so they just send stuff to bloggers the way they send stuff to mainstream journos
their story doesn’t get covered

What to do?

First, realize that there are bloggers who are being pitched – often badly – who have taken the trouble to provide some clues about what not to do and also about what would be smart to do. In fact, bloggers have been posting about this, literally for years now.

A good way in to the discussion is to read Lee Odden’s excellent post from back in 2006 but still relevant, aptly titled Blogger Relations 101. He has five tips, well worth reading, under the headings:

be relevant
personalize
make it easy
schwag is good
be persistent

In the same post Lee provides a stack of links for anyone who wants to read more widely on the topic.

A new study just out suggests that, while a lot of PR people feel they have their bases covered in the blogosphere, a majority of pro bloggers are not convinced. (Thanks to NewMediaWise for the link and commentary.)

The industry-commissioned study found that:

While a majority of public relations professionals believed they are doing a good job in its outreach to bloggers, most bloggers disagreed.

The findings of the study are reported under five headings:

Bloggers or Journalist: Differences in Definition
“Rules” of Engagements
Compensation of Bloggers
Transparency & Openness

The summary under “Rules” of Engagements is, in my view, the key for PR professionals wanting to get the relationship right:

PR professionals who understand bloggers and their needs have more success in communicating with the blogging community than those who do not.

And for me, the corollary is that those PR professionals would do well to blog.

I can’t think of a better way to understand bloggers, their perspective and conversation than to become a blogger oneself. That doesn’t necessarily mean blogging a lot or even having to blog on PR matters. It could be a blog about some interest the PR person has when off duty. The point is, doing it will teach more than reading about it or going to seminars.

One outcome of the study has been a new site The State of Blog Relations: From the Point of View of Public Relations Executives and Bloggers. While I imagine this can be a helpful resource, I find it interesting – and a tad mystifying – that the site does not include a blog.

Not that they *have* to have a blog. Just saying.