Guest Blogger: Randal DeHart, co-founder of Business Consulting And Accounting in Lynnwood Washington is the leading expert in outsourced construction bookkeeping and accounting services for small construction companies across the USA. His experience as a Contractor, Project Management Professional and Construction Accountant allow him to see the world as the contractor and the accountant sees it. This dual understanding sets him apart from other accountants. Visit http://www.fasteasyaccounting.com/ to learn more.
One Member’s Disappointing Experience With LinkedIn Group Moderation
LinkedIn is one of my favorite places for networking and getting to know people on a business and personal level. For the first few years I rarely participated in any of the discussions and used it mainly as an online CRM to keep track of some of the people with whom we have built business relationships.
Lately, I have become involved in LinkedIn discussion groups and have discovered another source of informative and stimulating conversations. However, there are situations when it is best to leave a group as that is the most respectful and kind thing to do, which brings me the subject of this article.
Shawn McCadden recently started a discussion in a LinkedIn group titled “Should You Participate In LinkedIn Discussions If They Are Moderated?” After reading all of the comments on this discussion I was surprised to learn some LinkedIn groups moderate all comments and only allow those which appear to be in agreement with the moderator. I understand some social media sites may need to control and censor comments but was surprised to find LinkedIn in that same category.
I wrote a comment and added it to Shawn’s discussion thanking him for bringing this issue to light and “posted” it, or so I thought. Subsequently I searched all of the other groups I was a member of in order to determine if any of my comments were ”pending” only to discover a few of them had put my comments in perpetual “pending“ status and left them there.
Most of the group discussions where I make comments everything is posted immediately. And all of the feedback has been positive including a health quantity of “Likes”.
Just to be thorough I checked the comment I thought was “posted” in Shawn’s discussion and found it was also in the “pending” section. I could only smile and wonder what had went wrong or if I had offended someone.
I sent messages to all the moderators asking if I had offended anyone or violated any rules so I could make amends and changes in order to get in compliance. Only one person had the courtesy to respond and now all my comments on that group show up immediately.
After waiting a few days to allow time for the other moderators to respond I deleted all of my “pending” comments and left all of the groups except the one with the discussion Shawn initiated because there are some very worthwhile postings and comments on it. My “Like” button appears to work on the discussions in this group so I will continue reading and signaling agreement and support with “Like”.
Having built a network of business and personal relationships that number in the thousands and spans the globe I understand the importance social graces and especially the importance of showing respect and kindness to friends and strangers alike. It is also just as important for us not to tolerate disrespect and a lack of common courtesy.
It is astounding how many times a kind gesture or recognizing someone by responding to a letter, note or email has led to some very profitable business for me and/or someone else in my network.
One of the keys to having a comfortable network that grows daily is that even though I may not agree with everyone on every subject I seek to understand another person’s point of view and find some common ground upon which we can agree and build a connection from there.
Like most power networkers I refer business back and forth without regard for what is in it for me because the Universe is always in balance and I have learned I cannot give more than I receive.
All comments and observations are always welcome.
Warm Regards,
Randal L. DeHart, PMP, QPA
