New Events section on Linkedin
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Linkedin yesterday introduced a new event section, here are the first impressions
If you use Linkedin and follow me on twitter, you know I have been talking about Linkedin introducing http://events.linkedin.com thanks to Brian pointing that out.
Up until yesterday nobody knew what the section was for. Linkedin is very popular within the community for not talking to users but just announcing changes in a oligarchic style. This was no exception.
So what happens is that yesterday I saw magically appearing on the right hand side of the screen an “Events” widget.
No news here as if you are on Xing they have a super cool event section as well as an ambassador program with Xing official events (1st in UK on Nov 25, 2008 in London)
I started to add the events for the Linkedin Event Planning & Management Group as well as ecoCamp and an online free seminar I am running on how to improve your career using Linkedin.
The RSVP section is also an highlight. You can point out whether you are presenting, exhibiting, attending or organizing.
In your My Events section you have some stats about the events you are running.
The event section is very well done. You have extensive tag area, a description and you can highlight the job roles interested in the event. When I added ecoCampLondon which has an RSVP in place on EventBrite the system automatically filled in the fields which is a great thing.
There is a promotional section where you can forward the event to your connections. What a disappointment to discover you can send it to a maximum of 10 connections, may work for a pub crawl though.
In the Browse Events Section they talk about Premium Event Opportunities. At the moement you can just send an email, which I did obviously with no reply (why not a messenger pigeon then?)
My first impressions in the end are mixed.
On one hand I welcome the long awaited change. It took Linkedin 3 years to realize events are a huge chunk of online networking.
On the other hand, I am simply getting tired of Linkedin not getting in touch with its user base. I expected they got in touch with our/their community of almost 4000 event professionals to get feedback on how to develop the service.
What’s your opinion? Have you tried the service?
I’ll also ping Jason Alba, a Linkedin guru, to tell us his experience and thoughts.
Categories: Julius Solaris, event planning 2.0, linkedin, project management
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Hi Julius!
We’re so glad you found us. LinkedIn soft-launched Wednesday, and we’ve been really happy with the amount of responses we’ve gotten. We may be a little behind on our emails, but I’m sure the business folks will be getting in touch with you shortly. I’d like to invite you (and any others interested in shaping Linkedin Events) to join a group dedicated to discussing and improving the new product. http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/806067
Thank you for this terrific post!
Hi Christina,
thanks for being in touch. I am sure there are a lot of passionate event professionals who are eager to give their fedback.
It’s good to finally talk to Linkedin and the readers will be happy as well
Cheers
Julius
The point of posting events on a networking site like LinkedIn is to influence our contacts to join our events. From what I checked, there are no stories published in the Network Updates section of our contacts. If nobody checks intentionally the events widget, you won’t get much response.
The 10 people at once invites are a drag and they send badly formatted HTML emails (accentuated characters are all wrong).
The events on Facebook a better because they are mostly used within an group and there is a possibility to invite everyone in the group even if they are not your friend.
Sure I had the same issues
Obviously Facebook had more time to shape the section. We’ll see what changes and improvement will come from Linkedin
Julius
Hey Nicolas,
Each time someone says they are attending, their network will get a network update. Listing your event first alerts your entire network, then each subsequent RSVP spreads the word further. If you want to reach beyond your network, you can buy a direct ad at 60% off right now.
As Julius said, many more new things will be coming. Keep your eyes open!
@Christina Then how come this doesn’t show in our personal feed? My second attendee didn’t add a story in my network feed.
Thanks for the ping – I haven’t played with this yet, just heard about it from my contacts
I’ll play around, but it seems like this would be a terrific feature for LI users, as long as it doesn’t get too spammy, which is what I am getting from my FB “friends.”
Jason Alba
CEO – JibberJobber.com
Author – I’m on LinkedIn — Now What???
Jason Albas last blog post..Avoiding a Layoff – Great Tip to Avoid a Job Search
Congrats on the launch, LinkedIn.
Eventbrite is very pleased to now be able to distribute our vast directory of business events to this valuable audience.
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I found this blog when searching for news on the recently dissappearing event widget – aarrggghhh… so frustrating they;ve just taken it down. No consultation. No warning. Nothing. Zip. Oligarchic? Dictatorial I'd say!
I know – I feel the pain