I monitor questions from LinkedIn Answers via the web feeds for several categories, and I review the questions once a week or so. It's amazing how many get posted in that time frame - and there are always questions I want to read more about or answer myself but I don't make the time. I also ask from time to time and find the answers to be helpful.
So, here are several LinkedIn Questions I found interesting this week.
- I've wondered about this one myself: Why are you willing to share in LinkedIn inquiries about management that you would hardly talk about in your organization?
- My answer: I think it has something to do with the difficulty of talking about "issues" within an organization where everyone knows what those issues are. You get defensive responses from the people involved, or the same old responses that haven't worked. Seeking input from the outside, done ethically, is a great way to expose the issue to a different set of eyes.
- An increasingly-common question: Blogs for internal communication: Can anyone share insights and experiences of using blogs to interactive communication within an organization?
- [Update: This question has been removed from LinkedIn.] A request for participation in a conference: What Went Wrong? Why do projects fail spectacularly? The question has generated a huge discussion (80+ answers) with people recounting their WWW.
- Using technology in creative ways to benefit at work. This was posted by a journalist (which is not uncommon in LinkedIn Answers, and could be a nice way to get quoted if you answer).
The next question: How do you monitor the answers to specific questions? (LinkedIn doesn't provide a feed and co.mments.com can't figure out how to parse the answers as comments.) The folks at Edgehunt are playing with a mashup that brings questions AND answers together: Aggregated LinkedIn RSS Answers and Questions feed (or one for each LinkedIn Answers category). [Link fixed!]