How to designate a "best answer" on LinkedIn

"How do you pick a best answer on LinkedIn?"  the man asked me.

I'd answered his LinkedIn question.  He wrote to tell me how he'd decided to use the information that answerers like me had given him.  I reminded him that people liked the "best answer" badges, and that somebody would appreciate it if he chose their answer as "best."  So he wanted to know how to do that.

And, you know, I couldn't find anything in the help guides about it.

This morning I've closed my very first LinkedIn question.  I can tell you authoritatively how to designate the best answer to your question.

• Go to My Q&A.
• Select the question.
• Click "close question."  When you do that, LinkedIn will ask:

• Close Question: Select Good Answers
• Select all of the answers that are “good.” If you choose just one, that answer will also be marked “best.”

If one of the responses is clearly outstanding, mark it as the "best."  That person will get an "expert" badge on her or his profile. 
 
If you have useful information from several people, mark each of those answers as "good." They don't get badges, but they do know how much you appreciated their contributions. 
 
When you choose several good answers and click "close question" LinkedIn will ask again

• Below are the answers you marked as “good.” Please select one as the best answer.

 Go ahead, I say.  Choose a best answer.  Make someone's day.

 

 

 

 

 

LinkedIn Expertise

I’m now an “internet marketing expert” on LinkedIn. 

Here’s what happened:  I visited LinkedIn Answers. I answered another user’s question: how she could get her team to promote her email newsletter? That was easy; I rattled off a few ways that I would have promoted my own newsletter in a perfect world. 

The asker chose mine as “best answer.”   That means I now have an “expert” badge on my profile.

Annoyingly, some people who ask LinkedIn questions never close the loop by choosing the “best answer.”

One fellow asked where he could get print copies of Miss Clairol ads from the 1960s.  Several people sent him to URLs where he could have printed low-res copies.  I actually spent dozens of minutes on eBay tracking down actual ads and even packaging.  I enjoyed it, and I fully expected that he would acknowledge my work by awarding me the “best answer.”  Two months later, he still hasn’t chosen a best answer.

In fact, about 80% of the askers whose questions I’ve answered never select a “best answer.”  Some generous LinkedIn members answer questions because they want to share their knowledge.  Or because they want the links back to their own websites.  But many people like me answer questions because they want that “expert” badge and the ego gratification that goes with it.

So I emailed LinkedIn.  They don’t follow up with askers who don’t close their questions, and they don’t plan to.

If I really, really wanted the badge, and strangers really, really didn’t want to select best answers, there would be a dishonest solution: a “best answer exchange.” 

1. My friend Jimmy Doakes asks a question; I answer it.  Jimmy picks my answer as “best.” 
2.  I ask a question.  Jimmy’s friend Shruti answers it.  I pick Shruti’s answer.
3.  Shruti poses a question.  Jimmy answers.  Shruti picks Jimmy.

Note that I pose this scenario in the subjunctive.  I wouldn’t actually set up an exchange, of course.  It would degrade the value of my precious “best answer” badge.

One thing’s for sure: if I’ve thought of it, someone else is already doing it.  Just sayin’.

Helpful Suggestions for LinkedIn

1) Add an algorithm
Sorry, Julie Shaw. When you lived in town we were fast friends and saw one another all the time. But you moved. When I tried to reconnect to you on LinkedIn I learned that there are 212 of you. I'm not sure of the name of the company where you work anymore. I'm not going to sift through hundreds of names to see if you have signed up on LinkedIn. So, unfortunately, you and I are not going to connect on LinkedIn until I see that one of our mutual acquaintances has already done the legwork.

Or, there may be three people with a more distinctive name, but I still can't recognize them. Maybe I know Elois as a writer for Widget Gazette, but he lists his employer as United Media Publishers.

With Elois I may take a chance (if I'm pretty sure he'll recognize my name) and send him a message saying, "Is this the Elois who wrote the fascinating roundup of the widget industry last fall? If so, would you like to network on LinkedIn?"

There is a penalty for being wrong, however. Did you ever click on the

Only invite people you know well and who know you. Find out why.

link? You'll learn that

"recipients can indicate that they don’t know you.
If they do, you’ll be asked to enter an email address with each future invitation."

This is a good thing. If you and I exchanged two emails (or you paid me a sales call) two years ago, and you import all your contacts, but I do not remember you, no, I don't want to link up with you. Thanks anyway. I'm going to indicate that I don't know you and LinkedIn will eventually penalize you.

LinkedIn's privacy policy says

"Any other use of LinkedIn (such as seeking to connect to someone a User does not know or to use LinkedIn as a means of generating revenue through the sale of contacts or information to others) is strictly prohibited and is a violation of this Agreement.....LinkedIn may limit the number of connections you may have to other Users and prohibit you from contacting other Users through use of the Services."

But what if I'm just unlucky, and with all the genuine goodwill in the world I send too many invitations to the wrong people? Will LinkedIn limit the number of my connections? Unfair. I think LinkedIn needs an algorithm based on how common a name is. If there are 800 Barbara Andersons, then my reaching out to the wrong Barbara should count a lot less than if I mistakenly contact, say, Katharine Hadow.

2) Change your default invitation
Also, (I have already suggested this to LinkedIn) their default invitation needs to change. If I invite Patrick to connect, the default message that LinkedIn offers me is "I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn."

Apparently not everyone has learned by now that people tune in to WIFM--"What's in it for me?" So now when I send invitations, I change the default text to something more focused on the other person: "Would you like to network on LinkedIn?"

It's the difference between an official telling you, "I need you to fill out this form," which makes me want to respond, "I don't really care what you need," and that same official saying, "Would you please fill out this form?" Same basic message, but focused on the other person.

Oh, and by the way, if you want to write me a recommendation on LinkedIn but you don't know what to say, please let me know. I have some helpful suggestions for you, too.

LinkedIn II

An article by Dana Mattioli in yesterday's Wall Street Journal says that LinkedIn memberships have increased 36% in the last six months.

This is a real trend.

LinkedIn

In 2003 a friend asked me to join her social network, but I was dubious. Why would I want friends of friends to contact me, and how did I know that I wouldn't get on a million spam lists? I turned her down, thinking that this idea would die aborning.

Often I am wrong, but rarely so spectacularly.

I signed up for LinkedIn last year but didn't think much about my membership. No one I knew seemed to belong.

This year, though, lots of people I know have joined. Suddenly I am reconnecting with former colleagues and trying to build a network as big as Len's (208). Get in to LinkedIn now while it's hot stuff.

http://www.linkedin.com/