The ‘LinkedIn effect¹’:A new way of learning?

Focus on project management communities

Prepared for Open University module H818 by Louise Worsley

¹The Linked in effect’, Forbes, 2014

What’s this about?

How are social networks such as LinkedIn being used to enhance and extend learning?

Primary research - sources of data:• Project managers registered on

LinkedIn• LinkedIn community groups and

discussion threads

Not familiar with LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking service. Launched on May 5, 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. As of May 2013, LinkedIn reports more than 300 million users in more than 200 countries and territories.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2014/05/04/new-research-2014-linkedin-user-trends-and-10-top-surprises/

Aside from providing functions to maintain and grow contacts, LinkedIn provides community groups (public and private) which allow members to interact within open and closed communities. According to Quora there are now just under 1.9M community groups on LinkedIn

Source: http://www.quora.com/How-many-groups-are-there-on-LinkedIn

Approach

Stage 1: Unstructured feedback LinkedIn groups (Nov – 10 responses)

Stage 2: Survey posted to PM groups (Jan /33 responses)

Stage 3/4: Analysis of selected group discussions (selection of 3 from top 10 groups)

Stage 1: Comments

As I work for a very large company….I have a tendency to be very inward looking. By joining networks like this I've recognised that I can challenge my thinking, understand other's journeys for example, particularly on topics such as women in leadership, where other organisations are finding their way and we can share learning in this area. Respondent 1 Female, Engineering, Statement 1

Evidence learning is happening here?

In terms of action I'd say that 2 of my last 3 jobs have come through LinkedIn, so the interaction can lead to big actions.

I've also attended … a significant number of events that have been posted and so gained increased knowledge about a wide range of topics.

In terms of actual learning through interaction on social network I'm not sure. ….. Many posts are hidden (or not so hidden) adverts for the person and/or their organization or people banging on about a hobby-horse so it is very easy to get cynical and not "trust" the interaction. Respondent 2: Male, Unknown, Statement 3

Positive

Neutral

Stage 2: Survey results (33 people)

85% of survey respondents use LinkedIn every week,

Gender Male 58%Female 42%

Age group 24-44 – 24%45-64 – 67%65 or over – 3%Prefer not to disclose – 6%

Declared location South Africa – 61%Europe – 27%Rest of world -12%

55% use two or more social networks every week

“ I use Facebook for social networking, business contacts who have become friends would be included here.”

Stage 2: Survey results (33 people)

21%

55%

24%

Post a messageEvery week Occasionally Never

19%

65%

15%

Respond to a messageEvery week Occasionally Never

While 85% of survey respondents use LinkedIn every week, only 20% are active in the community groups - posting or responding to posts

Stage 2: Survey results (33 people)

Maintaining/growing professional relationships

Creating professional relationships

Seeking information on practices in other groups

Promoting myself

Seeking answers to specific work-related questions

Promoting my work/company

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

LinkedIn: What I find helpful

40% reported “Seeking information on practices in other groups” as very helpful

Stage 3: Project management communities

Over 700 PM related groups on LinkedIn

¹Generic PM groups selected on basis of membership numbers

S1

S2

S3

S4

S5

S6

S7

S8

S9

S10

- 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000 700,000

Membership of top 10 PM groups¹

But does big mean active?Data extracted 14/11/14 Rechecked on 14/1/15

S1 grew by over 23,000 members in

two months

Not familiar with LinkedIn?

13 Comments & 14 likes on this

discussion

Discussion thread

13 Comments & 14 likes on this

discussion

‘Poster’ identifies types of

discussion

The community

Stage 3: Engagement analysisRankings

Groups Size Types of discussions

Engagement in discussions Weighted rank

S1 1 8 2 2S2 2 9 1 1S3 3 10 3 3S4 4 3 8 6

S5 5 7 6 7

S6 6 1 9 8

S7 7 4 5 3S8 8 6 4 5

S9 9 2 10 10

S10 10 4 7 9

Weighting = Average (Size + 2xTypes + 3xEngagement)

Proportion of discussions to

other posts

Proportion of comments to

posts

Number of members

Stage 4: Selecting discussions

• One week in January (3rd-10th)• All discussion posted across the

three groups – Groups 1,2 and 7Aim: To describe the nature of the engagement taking place in the project management communities identified in Stage 3.

A. Seeking advice /informationB. Information request (research &

surveys)C. Provoke debateD. Share informationE. Personal promotionF. Corporate promotion

Stage 4: How to categorise discussions?

Does the type of discussion effect the level of engagement?

Stage 4: What types of discussions?

D.Share information

F.Corporate Promotion

A.Seeking advice /information

C.Provoke debate

E.Personal promotion

B.Information request (research & surveys)

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Number of discussions (over 1 week)

Count of dicussions

But are all groups the same?

Information request (research & surveys)

Corporate Promotion

Personal promotion

Share information

Provoke debate

Seeking advice /information

0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0120.0140.0160.0180.0200.0

Average comments/likes per discussion

Average comments Average likes

Comments Likes

These types of discussion threads result in far higher

levels of engagement

Stage 4: Levels of engagement

Examples of conversations that generate engagement

Conversation Category Comments Likes

Describe Project Management in three words! Provoke debate 4004 457

Is PMP overvalued? (PMP is referring to a specific PM qualification) Provoke debate 1035 118

What is your most favorite project management document? Provoke debate 892 180

How do you manage multitasking? What tips do you have for others?

Seeking advice /information 510 98

What is your favorite motivational quote? Provoke debate 332 19

What are the components of "project context"?

Seeking advice /information 128 34

Should a project Charter have the acceptance criteria?

Seeking advice /information 94 19

Women in Project Management - Why so few? Provoke debate 68 7

Good books to get you started in PM? Please share?

Seeking advice /information 28 3

It’s moderated!

Not only does group 2 have the highest average comments per discussion, it has the highest number of comments overall!

Comments

Likes

Proportion of type A/C discussion

threadsAverage likes Average

comments

Group 1 18% 6.80 8.08Group 2 92% 13.50 40.33Group 7 38% 0.56 0.53

A = Seeking advice/informationC = Provoke debate

Stage 4: Group differences

• Learning is occurring• ‘Passive’ and active learning• New types of learning –

gamification and ‘fun’• Social networks usage may be

changing:• Going beyond networking• Specialist and specialised to

increasingly sophisticated audiences

Conclusions

Next steps...

• Paper development – addressing the issues

• Areas of interest:• Learning through gamification -

provoking debate• Promoting virtual communities• Online moderation

The ‘LinkedIn effect¹’:A new way of learning?

Focus on project management communities

Prepared for Open University module H818 by Louise Worsley

¹The Linked in effect’, Forbes, 2014

Stage 3: But does big mean active?

S1

S2

S3

S4

S5

S6

S7

S8

S10

S10

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

Nature of group postings

DiscussionsJobsPromotions

While Group 1 has a lot of posts, many of

these are classified as jobs and promotions

Data for 1 week of posts extracted 14/11/14 and 19/1/15 and averaged

Group 6 is mainly discussions – has the highest proportion of

discussions

But are all discussions ‘engaging’?

Stage 3: But are all discussions ‘engaging’?

S1

S2

S3

S4

S5

S6

S7

S8

S9

S10

- 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Discussion to comments ratio

Ratio of discussions to comments

So which groups to target?

What’s happened to Group 6!

This means that each discussion generates proportionally more

comments which suggests Group 2 is generating most

community engagement

Example of analysis

Hello, can someone explain sigma to me in layman's terms? Any help would be appreciated!

What makes a great project manager?

Sridhar Peddisetty discusses the establishment of a PMO. Links to www.

How to manage in a crisis – Air Asia flight QZ8501 and Links to www.

These are tricky to identify and may look like

information sharing. They always contain a link either to personal blog or corporate page

Post Analysis

Seeking advice /information

Provoke debate

I am doing research on… please complete this survey

Information request (research & surveys)

Corporate Promotion

Personal promotion

Do groups differ?

Look how large the non-

learning engagements are in these

groups

So what’s happening in group 2?

1. Provoke debate

2. Information R&D

3. Seek advice/info

3. Others

Group 1

Group 2

Group 7

4

4

1

1

1

22

2

3

3

3

Is this why we avoid contributing in forums?

Respondent to post name removedLittle puzzled, the last picture in the linked site on ES is saying it all. … I thought PM knowledge by now had better tools than ES???

Original poster of message – name removed

Before making this type of ridiculous statement you would be well served to actually read the academic literature and in-depth studies on ES.

The major problems with CPM….