Comments on: LinkedIn Groups: Are They Competing for My Membership? Why?

By: Megan M.

Megan M. — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:35:47 +0000

Dave–I stumbled across this thread as I was doing research on whether or not I could charge recruiters a fee for membership in my own LinkedIn group. We have about 1500 members in our targeted industry segment group. It's a gold mine for recruiters, but my staff and I are the ones managing the group, accepting new members, wiping out advertisements, and basically putting in the time to keep the group clean so it continues to add value to our membership. We are not looking to make money on these recruiters necessarily, but it would be nice to recoup some of our administrative expense especially considering recruiters are the ones benefitting monetarily from our efforts. Have you made any decisions on how you are planning to handle this dilemma in your own group? I would appreciate your feedback.

By: Megan M.

Megan M. — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:35:47 +0000

By: Urzay G.

Urzay G. — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 07:08:23 +0000

From the page: "LinkedIn Groups: Are They Competing for My Membership? Why? " http://su.pr/Ajwr2A

By: matt

matt — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:58:38 +0000

Dave,

Just curious, are you charging monthly or a flat rate for recruiters to join the group? Do you care to share any figures? Also, how did you handle existing recruiters? Did you delete their accounts and have they rejoin if they paid?

Thanks,
Matt

By: matt

matt — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:58:38 +0000

By: nealschaffer

nealschaffer — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:02:16 +0000

Dave,

Thanks again for stopping by! Whether you monetize your group or not is purely up to your objective of being on LinkedIn. If you provide a value to someone that can be monetized, I agree 100% with your view. In fact, it sounds like you are one of the more savvier LinkedIn Group Managers! I feel that a lot of Group Managers try to monetize LinkedIn Groups by spamming their members...it sounds like you are taking a different approach, so that is refreshing to hear.

Do keep us updated on how things go for you!

- Neal

By: nealschaffer

nealschaffer — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:59:45 +0000

Hey Dave,

Thanks for your input. Well, the Terms of Service may be stated as such, but LinkedIn has banned LinkedIn Groups in the past, so it's best to look at the User Agreement that we have with LinkedIn for advice on LinkedIn Groups. Remember, each member of your group has the ability to notify LinkedIn of anything about your Group that they are not happy about, and therein lies the issue.

- Neal

By: dave

dave — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:54:44 +0000

I dont see any reason for not monetizing your group.
I am a group owner of a group of only 1000+ members. my group is very focused and I reject a lot of people. I keep recruiters and service providers to a limit by allowing no more than 15 percent in my group.
That helps keep discussion pointed.. that being said. These groups provide a service to these Service providers and recruiters and anytime you provide a service there is always a value associated with it.
Now some groups .. maybe that value prospect is different.. I mean those groups that accept anyone..
but my group is extremely targeted. A recruiter could find a candidate in 10 minutes and currently pay ZERO for the service. compared to wondering through careerbuilder, dice, etc. for a long time without finding the quality we offer. The same goes for the Service Providers..Where else can they find that kind of targeted client for free? The flip side to that is that Service providers and Recruiters provide very little value to the group as a whole. Their interest in the group is merely monetary. not subject matter expertise. So I don't feel bad if I monetize their actions.

By: dave

dave — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:42:36 +0000

Here is the Terms for linkedin groups.
LinkedIn Groups Terms of Service

You warrant to LinkedIn Corporation that you have the right to provide LinkedIn with a list of the names of your Group Members. Additionally, you warrant to LinkedIn that, should you choose to provide LinkedIn with the email addresses of your Members, you have the right to do so.

You hereby grant to LinkedIn a non-exclusive, non-transferable license during the term of this Agreement to use, copy and publicly display on the LinkedIn Site any logos or trademarked materials you specifically provide for your group to Linkedin.

So I wouldnt worry about it.

By: nealschaffer

nealschaffer — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:21:23 +0000

Hey Brandon,

An interesting question. The Users Agreement has a list of "DONT'S" that you should read. Some of these include:

DON’T
* duplicate, license, sublicense, publish, broadcast, transmit, distribute, perform, display, sell, rebrand, otherwise transfer or commercially exploit LinkedIn (excluding content posted by you) except as permitted in the User Agreement;
* rent, lease, loan, trade, sell/re-sell access to LinkedIn or any information therein, or the equivalent, in whole or part;

It is possible that what you want to do violates these sections of the User Agreement. Obviously, don't take my advice but please consult a lawyer for an official opinion before doing anything. All it takes is one of those 5,000 users to tip LinkedIn off and report you, so better to have your ducks lined up, if you know what I mean.

- Neal