Guest Blogger: Nicole Allen is the Social Media Manager at R2R Marketing where she is responsible for maintaining and executing a clearly defined social media strategy to increase brand equity and awareness for current clients. She is also the group manager for “Home Improvement Industry Specialists” group on LinkedIn. Nicole is an expert in Social Media Management and has a military background as an Aircrew Survival Equipmentman.
Clarification About LinkedIn Group Discussion Moderation From A Group Manager
As of January of 2013, LinkedIn has put in place a policy of placing anyone who has been “Blocked or Deleted” from one group into “moderation mode” across to ALL of the groups that they may belong to. This has been a highly controversial policy with much discussion about it around the group sites on LinkedIn. This policy called, “SWAM”- Site Wide Auto Moderation, is intended as an anti-spam measure. Unfortunately, many members have suffered the consequences through friendly fire.
How do you fix this? Good Luck!
There is no automatic appeal process- you can’t get it fixed by LinkedIn Customer Service- and you won’t be able to find out which group owner has blocked or deleted your postings. You are pretty much left on your own. My advice is to contact the owners of the groups that you are most interested on posting in, and asking them to change your permission to “allowed to post”.
As a group manager, I have set up my group in such a way that a new member to the group is automatically moderated for the first 2 days. This is to accomplish only ONE thing- that is to cut down on the spam the group is inundated with on a daily basis. Everyone wants to have a place to sell their wares and we understand this- There is a specific tab for you to do so. It’s called the “promotions” tab- use it.
As for some of you that have come to my group wondering why they are being moderated—please re-read the first two paragraphs. This should explain to you why this is happening. The most that I can do is remove the moderation for you manually and I will be more than willing to do this if you should ask.
Group moderation is sometimes a necessity.
To encourage a good flow of free speech, we must weed through the “look-at-me’s” so that it is easier to find that healthy discussion that LinkedIn groups were made for.
My personal policy is to NOT delete or not allow anyone’s comments or discussions that are in the spirit of the group. However, I have had to do this in the past. Comments that are derogatory or otherwise hurtful or inappropriate will end up in the recycle bin. It is not my job to tell anyone how to feel, what to post or when to be nice. I fully expect you, as grown adults to have enough decorum to be able to control yourself in a professional manner.
With that said, happy posting- and should you find yourself on the moderation list, chances are that you have been "SWAM-ed"!
Related articles:
Should You Participate In LinkedIn Discussions If They Are Moderated?
One Member’s Disappointing Experience With LinkedIn Group Moderation
