6 ms·

Linkedin Answers Shuts Down

36 points by JimWillTri 14y ago

And I just started looking at them a few days ago.

adam_lowe 14y ago
meh, I don't know if accountants and lawyers gave that any use but never even looked or thought about that for questions or research. Linkedin is a good way for non-technical people to see a non-technical profile for you. They should just be focus on being good at that, job postings (which aren't that great/overpriced) and a company directory.
Angostura 14y ago
A shame. I found Answers actually a great place to network virtually. In the old days, before it was hidden, I used to answer a couple of questions a week and made sure I did it well. Made some nice new connections and actually garnered some work that way. In comparison, I find he Groups noisy and pointless.
- simias 14y ago
  Was it popular? I had never heard of Linkedin Answers before today, what was it exactly? Something like stack overflow?
  - ramayac 14y ago
    Me neither, never heard of Answers before!
  - unomateo 14y ago
    Yes it was popular... The majority of business owners are not techie. They probably do not know about StackOverflow. So answering questions asked by business owners on Linkedin was a great way to make an impression. The biggest problem with with linkedin it that it's just overrun with requiters and social media experts. It's not professional anymore. Answers evolved from a Q/A section to a just another portal for a social media expert to just refer to someone in their network. It was really annoying... The shutting down of Answers should be a warning to anyone that is trying to build credibility on a network, it can close at anytime and all your answers/reputation is gone
- danvideo 14y ago
  As someone who has not used Answers, could you explain a bit more about what (if anything) differentiated it from Quora or StackExchange?
  - unomateo 14y ago
    There was nothing special about it... just a simple Q/A site. The concept was to get points for answering questions and those points made you look better to potential business partners. Quora and SE, are websites built around Q/A... Those are products... this was just a feature of linkedin
- brk 14y ago
  The same. I used to try and put forth some genuinely helpful answers, and also made some good connections from it. For the Groups, unless they are heavily moderated by the Group owner they devolve quickly into total crap. People either post pointless spammy press releases, links to lame blogs, or respond to questions for help with a problem with horrible product suggestions.
Snoptic 14y ago
Congrats. Halfway to the ultimate goal.
codegeek 14y ago
In my opinion, linkedin answers were far better than the groups. Groups are easy to start but hard to maintain and keep engaged. I have learnt that the best way to keep audience focussed is to give specifics which answers can do better than a group. For example, creating a group called "Python developers" might attract a few folks but what do you do when you join it ? A more specific question like "What technology stack is used by python developers for web" will definitely attract a more engaged conversation.
- adrianhoward 14y ago
  In my opinion, linkedin answers were far better than the groups That's damning with faint praise - being better than groups isn't a very high bar ;-)
  - mnicole 14y ago
    So true, are there any worth joining? The UX/web design/CSS ones are jokes and so are their [multiple] G+ counterparts.
    - pestaa 14y ago
      This is the first time I hear someone saying this about G+ groups. I've felt this way ever since people wanted to move to G+ just for its own sake.
      - mnicole 14y ago
        Yeah, I'm not sure if user-generated groups were the way to go with that one. I have no idea which of the ten with the same name are worth joining, so I don't join any at all.
meritt 14y ago
LinkedIn needs to shut down endorsements next. I'm tired of people endorsing me for skills they don't actually lend any credibility to. Although I'll admit it's fun to counter their generosity by endorsing them in Alcoholism and Horse Training.
- DocSavage 14y ago
  So true. I took the endorsements area off my profile. My "image processing" expertise was endorsed by a fellow I knew solely through screenwriting, which isn't surprising given how pushy LinkedIn is getting about endorsing other contacts' expertise.
- adrianhoward 14y ago
  I've managed to get "coffee" to #6 most endorsed in my Skills & Expertise.... I suspect that I'm not taking it as seriously as LinkedIn thinks I should ;-)
  - brk 14y ago
    For a while I had "trolling" listed on my profile, then one day it just disappeared.
    - adrianhoward 14y ago
      Bravo Sir/Madam ;-) Reminds me of a friend who had "X's hobbies include lying about his hobbies, lists, and the Oxford comma." on his CV.
  - bernardom 14y ago
    It's become an office joke to have everyone endorse this one guy for MS Office. He hates it.
- jpdoctor 14y ago
  I think endorsements were a terrible strategic move for LI. It's already at the point that nobody believes the endorsements, and it just makes people not want to deal with the site because of the awkward situations they create.
donretag 14y ago
Has LinkedIn launched any usable features (Endorsements and LinkedIn Today do not count IMHO) in the past few years? They removed Events, Answers, Github integration, job search agents and others. Groups are basically spam repositories. Not sure exactly what they are working on.
- unomateo 14y ago
  I haven't heard of any major enhancements or killer features. The last time LinkedIn as in the news was when they released their iPhone app
codegeek 14y ago
I have successfully used Linkedin 3 times in last 6 years to secure a contract job.I was able to do that due to a very niche profile and well connected with similar co-workers in the industry. That is where the strength of Linkedin is: networking/connections with your co-workers. I can keep tab on my ex and present co-workers as to where they are, what they are doing and if they could be useful to me for a next gig or reference etc. The recommendation feature can be useful if done well. I have a decent number of recommendations but all are from actual co-workers I worked with on many projects and I ask them to be specific if they do want to give a recommendation. Generic ones are BS. Everything else like endorsements (the most useless feature) groups, answers, job postings are mostly crap and does not really add much more value than other existing career sites. For example, if I am interested in a person/company, I try to look them up on linkedin. Their profile tells me what I need to know if they have relevant information listed. To an extent, I could care about their "answers" or group activity but does it really mean much when the newsfeed says "X person just joined IT professionals group". Sure, other than the fact that I already know he is IT professional.
Tekker 14y ago
I liked the "Was this answer helpful?" at the end. Nice touch.

36 points by JimWillTri 14y ago

And I just started looking at them a few days ago.

meh, I don't know if accountants and lawyers gave that any use but never even looked or thought about that for questions or research. Linkedin is a good way for non-technical people to see a non-technical profile for you. They should just be focus on being good at that, job postings (which aren't that great/overpriced) and a company directory.

Angostura 14y ago

A shame. I found Answers actually a great place to network virtually. In the old days, before it was hidden, I used to answer a couple of questions a week and made sure I did it well. Made some nice new connections and actually garnered some work that way. In comparison, I find he Groups noisy and pointless.

simias 14y ago
Was it popular? I had never heard of Linkedin Answers before today, what was it exactly? Something like stack overflow?
- ramayac 14y ago
  Me neither, never heard of Answers before!
- unomateo 14y ago
  Yes it was popular... The majority of business owners are not techie. They probably do not know about StackOverflow. So answering questions asked by business owners on Linkedin was a great way to make an impression. The biggest problem with with linkedin it that it's just overrun with requiters and social media experts. It's not professional anymore. Answers evolved from a Q/A section to a just another portal for a social media expert to just refer to someone in their network. It was really annoying... The shutting down of Answers should be a warning to anyone that is trying to build credibility on a network, it can close at anytime and all your answers/reputation is gone
danvideo 14y ago
As someone who has not used Answers, could you explain a bit more about what (if anything) differentiated it from Quora or StackExchange?
- unomateo 14y ago
  There was nothing special about it... just a simple Q/A site. The concept was to get points for answering questions and those points made you look better to potential business partners. Quora and SE, are websites built around Q/A... Those are products... this was just a feature of linkedin
brk 14y ago
The same. I used to try and put forth some genuinely helpful answers, and also made some good connections from it. For the Groups, unless they are heavily moderated by the Group owner they devolve quickly into total crap. People either post pointless spammy press releases, links to lame blogs, or respond to questions for help with a problem with horrible product suggestions.

Snoptic 14y ago

Congrats. Halfway to the ultimate goal.

codegeek 14y ago

In my opinion, linkedin answers were far better than the groups. Groups are easy to start but hard to maintain and keep engaged. I have learnt that the best way to keep audience focussed is to give specifics which answers can do better than a group. For example, creating a group called "Python developers" might attract a few folks but what do you do when you join it ? A more specific question like "What technology stack is used by python developers for web" will definitely attract a more engaged conversation.

adrianhoward 14y ago
In my opinion, linkedin answers were far better than the groups That's damning with faint praise - being better than groups isn't a very high bar ;-)
- mnicole 14y ago
  So true, are there any worth joining? The UX/web design/CSS ones are jokes and so are their [multiple] G+ counterparts.
  - pestaa 14y ago
    This is the first time I hear someone saying this about G+ groups. I've felt this way ever since people wanted to move to G+ just for its own sake.
    - mnicole 14y ago
      Yeah, I'm not sure if user-generated groups were the way to go with that one. I have no idea which of the ten with the same name are worth joining, so I don't join any at all.

meritt 14y ago

LinkedIn needs to shut down endorsements next. I'm tired of people endorsing me for skills they don't actually lend any credibility to. Although I'll admit it's fun to counter their generosity by endorsing them in Alcoholism and Horse Training.

DocSavage 14y ago
So true. I took the endorsements area off my profile. My "image processing" expertise was endorsed by a fellow I knew solely through screenwriting, which isn't surprising given how pushy LinkedIn is getting about endorsing other contacts' expertise.
adrianhoward 14y ago
I've managed to get "coffee" to #6 most endorsed in my Skills & Expertise.... I suspect that I'm not taking it as seriously as LinkedIn thinks I should ;-)
- brk 14y ago
  For a while I had "trolling" listed on my profile, then one day it just disappeared.
  - adrianhoward 14y ago
    Bravo Sir/Madam ;-) Reminds me of a friend who had "X's hobbies include lying about his hobbies, lists, and the Oxford comma." on his CV.
- bernardom 14y ago
  It's become an office joke to have everyone endorse this one guy for MS Office. He hates it.
jpdoctor 14y ago
I think endorsements were a terrible strategic move for LI. It's already at the point that nobody believes the endorsements, and it just makes people not want to deal with the site because of the awkward situations they create.

donretag 14y ago

Has LinkedIn launched any usable features (Endorsements and LinkedIn Today do not count IMHO) in the past few years? They removed Events, Answers, Github integration, job search agents and others. Groups are basically spam repositories. Not sure exactly what they are working on.

unomateo 14y ago
I haven't heard of any major enhancements or killer features. The last time LinkedIn as in the news was when they released their iPhone app

codegeek 14y ago

I have successfully used Linkedin 3 times in last 6 years to secure a contract job.I was able to do that due to a very niche profile and well connected with similar co-workers in the industry. That is where the strength of Linkedin is: networking/connections with your co-workers. I can keep tab on my ex and present co-workers as to where they are, what they are doing and if they could be useful to me for a next gig or reference etc. The recommendation feature can be useful if done well. I have a decent number of recommendations but all are from actual co-workers I worked with on many projects and I ask them to be specific if they do want to give a recommendation. Generic ones are BS. Everything else like endorsements (the most useless feature) groups, answers, job postings are mostly crap and does not really add much more value than other existing career sites. For example, if I am interested in a person/company, I try to look them up on linkedin. Their profile tells me what I need to know if they have relevant information listed. To an extent, I could care about their "answers" or group activity but does it really mean much when the newsfeed says "X person just joined IT professionals group". Sure, other than the fact that I already know he is IT professional.

Tekker 14y ago

I liked the "Was this answer helpful?" at the end. Nice touch.