Hi Friend,
Linkedin has done it again.
If you use your groups to network for business, hire team members, or job transition, Linkedin wants you to update your account and use more inMails.
In the last week, Linkedin has quietly started to limit the amount of free messages group members can send to each other. Until last week, one of the key benefits of group membership was the unlimited ability to communicate with other members of the group for free.
The new limit is between 15-20 messages, and then you are blocked for an undetermined amount of time. Here is the help center discussion I found on this topic, http://bit.ly/linkedin-message.
Unfortunately, the limits are not clearly defined and an email to customer support was not very helpful.
This morning I received an answer to my query,
“Hi Steve,
Thanks for contacting us. I certainly apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced.
I’m glad to hear you’ve been using free group-messaging to interact with fellow group members! We designed the feature to enhance the group experience through personal conversations. We still encourage you to use group messaging for these exchanges but we’ve implemented a limit to prevent potential abuse. If you do go over the limit, you will see an error message but only for a certain time period.
We offer many alternatives if you are using messaging to recruit or promote. Please check out our Premium accounts which include InMails and recruiting tools to make the most of LinkedIn!
Sincerely,
Rashi
Premium Products Advisor”
I understand Linkedin is a business and needs to be profitable, but recommending that we start and join groups and then limit the interaction is not very customer-friendly in my opinion. I’ve also noticed subtle changes made at Twitter and Facebook to increase revenue.
No one can be sure of the extent and limitations of these ongoing changes, only that we are subject to Linkedin’s policies and how it affects our business long-term.
Going forward, I plan to overcome these Linkedin restrictions by introducing a community for medical device sales professionals that uses real-world experience and best practices, to inspire and support our members while they achieve their personal and business visions of success.
To your continued success!
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