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 Cathy Mannis on January 10, 2014 at 4:10pm: Keith "Hope I'm Wrong" Halperin - I hope you're wrong too!!!

Comment by Pete Radloff on January 10, 2014 at 4:23pm: Keith, I think you are 100% right. Demand creates the supply for sure.

Comment by Keith D. Halperin on January 10, 2014 at 4:51pm: @ Cathy: I get that a lot (though not in quite such words)....

@ Pete: Thanks. One can only hope that LI's complacency will grow with their arrogance and greed, and some folks out there will develop a LI-buster. Meanwhile, to mangle Bob Dylan:

"Ain't no reason to be sad and blue- ev'rybody must get the screw!"

Happy Friday, 'Cruitaz!

:)

Comment by Cathy Mannis on January 10, 2014 at 5:40pm: @Keith - I hope you know I was just kidding! I would never say anything derogatory about a peer!

Comment by Keith D. Halperin on January 10, 2014 at 6:09pm: I know you didn't.

No offense taken, Cathy. :)

Comment by chandra bodapati on January 10, 2014 at 7:22pm: Any Vendor has a right to change rules anytime they want to, provided its legal.
Then again, any vendor who sold a product on availability of certain features, can not arbitrarily remove those features. They can do so for new customers. For existing customers, they should provide a way to opt-out of the service.

Comment by Glen Cathey on January 13, 2014 at 8:12am: I agree Jennifer - but apparently some LinkedIn reps have told a few folks that free group messaging is going away which has caused significant confusion and some misplaced frustration. I am happy to confirm from sources within LinkedIn that free group messaging is NOT going away:

http://booleanblackbelt.com/2014/01/keep-calm-message-on-linkedin-g...

Comment by Keith D. Halperin on January 13, 2014 at 12:00pm: @ Jennifer: as there is no reasonable expectation that anyone who says they're open to a new opportunity actually is open (since you have to "opt out" to indicate you're not interested" in order to reach a number of people who really are interested and qualified, I need to send large numbers of InMails, as carefully crafted to a group as possible. If I spent a long time care fully customizing each message , I still wouldn't have a reasonable expectation of a reply, just far fewer candidates to show for it. Now, if LI required you to "opt In" every 30 days for whatever you're interested in (jobs, expertise, etc.) so that people had a reasonable expectation of success, that would be a different matter....

Comment by Amy McDonald on January 13, 2014 at 12:36pm: This is interesting. I've only been a paid user of LinkedIn for a brief time while job searching myself when the company was in its infancy. I get a ton of value without spending a dime, but I know many that certainly believe they get value from paid subscriptions as well and have expected at some point for the free to go away.I'm wondering about Linked In's motivation for this change if it plans for it to impact all users.

Comment by Cathy Mannis on January 14, 2014 at 11:38am: OK - I just tried to send a message to a fellow group member and I received this message: "Note: Messages to fellow group members now require Inmail credits." That's NOT what LinkedIn said would happen...

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