Free Messages to LinkedIn Group Members No More...

(starting Jan 13, 2014)

To clarify, my source is a phone call with a LI rep yesterday (which happened for a different reason - namely - my LIR account was charging to send InMails to group members back in November (which shouldn't have happened back then) - this is a long trace following up...it almost doesn't matter anymore but I would love the support to get better.

The rep said that:

1) InMails in LIR to group members are now becoming paid - starting Jan 13. He said that "frequent" users of those have been notified

2) He also said that free messaging on groups is going away for all. He was pretty clear on that. I would love this not to happen, of course! I am a fan and a frequent of group messaging for sourcing candidates (of course, making sure it's very targeted and personalized).

-Irina

Comment by Keith D. Halperin on January 10, 2014 at 1:59pm: Folks, IMHO: LI can do whatever it likes as long as there are lots o f"users who are paying a bizillion dollars per year for Recruiter." as Craig put it. It should come as no surprise to anyone whenever LI restricts features and raises prices -that's what near-monopolies do, and it's what LI has been doing from the beginning.

kh

Comment by Irina Shamaeva on January 10, 2014 at 2:39pm: To clarify, my source is a phone call with a LI rep yesterday (which happened for a different reason - namely - my LIR account was charging to send InMails to group members back in November (which shouldn't have happened back then) - this is a long trace following up...it almost doesn't matter anymore but I would love the support to get better.

The rep said that:

1) InMails in LIR to group members are now becoming paid - starting Jan 13. He said that "frequent" users of those have been notified

2) He also said that free messaging on groups is going away for all. He was pretty clear on that. I would love this not to happen, of course! I am a fan and a frequent of group messaging for sourcing candidates (of course, making sure it's very targeted and personalized).

-Irina

Comment by Pete Radloff on January 10, 2014 at 3:25pm: How in the world could they take away messaging for people who are paying for LIR accounts? Isnt that what they are paying for?

Comment by Irina Shamaeva on January 10, 2014 at 3:45pm: Pete - currently the InMails to group members are not charged for - and that is definitely going away.

Comment by Matt Charney on January 10, 2014 at 3:50pm: Anyone whose sourcing or engagement strategy is affected by this news is either a troll, a bad recruiter or a B2B content marketer. *@notthathard.com

Comment by Pete Radloff on January 10, 2014 at 3:53pm: Well, its been a nice perk to have that. LinkedIn is going to create some really ill will among its customers if it really does that. It's just another $$ grab for them, which is what happens when you go public, unfortunately.

Sad, because I've always been a big fan of them, but prices go up and services get the axe. Not every independent or small shop recruiter has 250k a year.

Comment by Cathy Mannis on January 10, 2014 at 3:53pm

I just received this email from LI Customer Support:

LinkedIn Customer Support Message


Subject: rumor re messaging via groups


Hi Cathy, At LinkedIn, we want to provide a simple and useful experience for everyone. So from time to time, we take a closer look at how our features are being used by our members. Sometimes that means we decide to eliminate a feature, so we can better invest those resources in building new, great LinkedIn products. The recruiter product used to allow messaging to group members outside of the group (from the search page in their account). This has been disabled. The group's individual Members Tab is now the only place you can send a free 1:1 group message. This function is not going away. I appreciate your feedback on this change and I'll definitely send your comments on to our product team. When lots of people ask for the same improvement, they try their best to get it done (but sorry to say, they usually can't provide a timeline). By the way, if you have other suggestions for other products, the easiest way to do it is to click "Send Feedback" at the bottom of any LinkedIn page. If you’d like to keep up with the latest product news and enhancements, check out our blog athttp://blog.linkedin.com. Best Regards,

Comment by Matt Charney on January 10, 2014 at 4:01pm: Thanks for sharing that, Cathy. Way more informative than the ones I get every week with the helpful tip, "Get More Visitors by Increasing Your Ad Budget."

Comment by Cathy Mannis on January 10, 2014 at 4:06pm: Well, I kind of pushed them....I think the individual messaging within groups is fine. I never even knew/used the "Mass Inmail" within groups...a spammer I am not!

Comment by Keith D. Halperin on January 10, 2014 at 4:08pm: @ Pete: Until large numbers of their biggest clients start cancelling their subscriptions and letting us know all about why, LI will continue to whatever they damn well please and there's not really a thing that can be done...

No Cheers,

Keith "Hope I'm Wrong" Halperin