My Linkedin groups
A few weeks ago Linkedin implemented a change in the number of group an individual could join on the network. I was a huge proponent of joining groups as a way of attracting new invitations. But with the policy change I've had to make some decisions on which groups to remain a member of. So I culled my original member list of 480 groups down to the 49 you see below. The criteria was simple; a) group had to relevant to my interests and or needs as an owner of HTC Research Corp b) had to have at least 1000 members and c) had to have at least some activity in the discussions area

I chose the above criteria for the following reasons:
a) the group had to have relevance as there's no need for me to be a member for a group called "Friends of Uzbeckistanmonia" even if it has 3000 members as I probably have no interest in what they would be talking about and I don't speak the language:-) (Unless of course I was getting a ton of invties from other members of this group)

b) I want the group to have at least 1000 members to increase the chances of receiving invites from other members. This is still a great way of building your network with very little effort. I get at least 15 invites a day from people who say they are a member of xyz group and they want to connect. Of course I accept, as I accept all invites.

c)had to have activity in the discussions group. If you have 10,000 members and little/no discussion that tells me something. Most likely the group moderator has multiple groups under the similar names and he transferred membership from one of his "more popular groups" to this group. Activity and discussion will ultimately prove the value of a group. Also I looked, albeit briefly, at the content of the discussions if the first few were request for connections of job postings I deleted the group as I feel the moderator was not actually moderating the content which can make a mess of a group in short time and kill relevancy.

Of course this is just a first pass and I'll be making additional changes along the way and continuing to monitor discussions and memberships levels.

If you think of any groups I should add let me know.

My Groups (49)

Groups I moderate
Candidate Pipeline Development ™ (click to join) Members: 2,655
Court Time (just for fun as I love racquetball and wanted to blog about my games, practice etc and is an exception to the above rules)

Link to the Group Directory
1 Big5Hire - Passive Recruiting Search Engine User group
2 Blue: The DallasBlue Business Network (23,000+ members)
3 Deloitte.
4 ERE.net
5 Fans of Mashable
6 Indeed.com
7 Innovative Recruitment Forum [6500+ members]
8 Integrated Alliances
9 Invites Welcome! (Open Networkers)
10 J.D. Edwards Professionals
11 Leading International Open Networkers (LION)
12 LI Recruiters Network
13 linked PMP (www.linkedpmp.com)... 9000+ members!!!
14 LinkedHR: #1 HR Group (55,000 members)
15 LinkedSEO
16 LION500.com (Open Networkers)
17 MyLink500.com (Open Networkers)
18 Networked Recruiter (18,000+) 4th Largest Recruiting and 3rd Largest HR Group
19 Open Networkers
20 OpenNetworkers.info <>
21 Openreq.com (Recruiters & Staffing Professionals)
22 Plaxo.com
23 PricewaterhouseCoopers employees and alumni
24 Real Estate Open Networkers
25 Recruiting Animal Show
26 Recruiting Professionals Network
27 RecruitingBlogs.com Group
28 Recruitment Consultants (14.000+)
29 Recruitment Process Outsourcing
30 Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo
31 Search Marketing Salon
32 SHRM Networking Group
33 Sourcers Guild
34 TalentBar: HR and Recruiter Network
35 Techmuch.com; your daily tech-news presents; "Online Advertising"
36 Technical Recruitment
37 TechSoup NetSquared
38 The Executive Search Group (10,680+ members)
39 THE GLOBAL SOURCING COUNCIL (GSC)
40 The Recruitment Network
41 The Talent Buzz
42 Top Secret Candidates
43 True Wealth Creators' Network
44 Tweeple
45 Wireless Telecommunications
46 Worldwide Management Consultants (10,000+ members)
47 XING.com


Jeff Weidner
11,000+ on linkedin
jeffweidnerlinkedin@gmail.com