Back in February, LinkedIn announced that it was opening up access to its publishing platform to all 277 million users. Before then, LinkedIn had only allowed a small group of selected influencers, such as Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Jack Welch, to write and share long-form blog posts.
LinkedIn said that the rollout would be staged, starting with 25,000 English language users. Those with publishing power see a small pencil icon to the right of their Share Box when they are signed into LinkedIn.
The first time you click on the pencil, you will be taken through a Publishing on LinkedIn tutorial… what you should write about, what happens when you publish and “A few things to keep in mind” – reminding you to get permissions and give credit.
If you’re keen to get started and don’t yet see a pencil, you can apply for early access here: http://specialedition.linkedin.com/publishing/
Of course, the official line from LinkedIn is that it’s “a great opportunity” (to strengthen your professional reputation by sharing your perspectives with your network) and when I was granted publishing rights, the email I received from LinkedIn was headed up as “Congrats Linda! You’re invited to publish on LinkedIn”.
Congrats? Perhaps I felt a flicker of flattery, but mostly I pondered:
- What I would write on LinkedIn… in addition, or instead of, to this blog;
- If in addition to, how I would find the time (#needmorethan24hoursaday now!); and
- Having just said goodbye to CubeSocial’s LinkedIn Products & Services tab, what if LinkedIn similarly changes its mind about this feature and “retires” everything that I publish – all LinkedIn publishers need to be mindful that the platform, and therefore the content, is not under their control.
What do you think? Are you one of the first to publish on LinkedIn? How are you finding it? A privilege, or a pain?
Some really great points highlighted here. I’d feel exactly the same way. While it’s great to be able to showcase your thoughts on such a huge platform as LinkedIn it would be the time & guarantee that LinkedIn wouldn’t just decide to do away with the articles I write. I already find getting the time to blog on my own website something that gets squeezed in between seeing clients, building the business and a whole host of other things….oh and time off….does that ever happen!!!
Yours socially
Janet Bebb
Social Progress Ltd
Thanks Janet. Appreciate your apprehension, especially after our experiences with LinkedIn Company Pages Recommendations… as you tweeted: “GOING, Going, GONE!”
As for finding the time, my slow response probably says it all… Please excuse the delay, and do make sure to find time for R&R 🙂
Now the feeling is: will I be punished if I don’t take the chance? I’m finding it difficult to write something about that is worth it to LinkedIn users: first time publishing panic? LoL
Privilege/Pain, Punishment and Panic… the joys of LinkedIn Publishing! Do you now have access / Have you now published? How are you finding it so far?
I received the invitation, but I haven´t even written the first sentence. The thing is, I might write something… but then I wouldn´t be able to write a second or even a third post. Being honest, I will never be an influencer, a thought which only leaves me this opportunity to publish as a vanity option… and I don´t think I want to take it 😉
Just checked LinkedIn to see if you had published anything in the week since your comment… nothing as yet, but you did encourage/nudge me to get my second post up! So far, the second post has generated comments from two individuals – one of the individuals doesn’t tweet; both have not previously commented here on the CubeSocial blog. The pondering continues…
I just got invited myself, and I’m already writing content for my own blog. I’m not sure where or how I will find the time either! I think I would like to write thru Linked In, but I’m afraid it will turn into a mess!
Considering I already push my blogs on WordPress to LinkedIn, will this really expand my following/influence/readership? Can’t seem to find a decent piece of advice on it.
The key difference right now is that when you publish on LinkedIn, a notification is sent to all your contacts, whereas when you share from WordPress your post is simply added to your contacts’ ever changing timeline. The alerts could drive more views/comments/shares, and improve your credibility/authority… but if the alerts start pinging constantly, they could become annoying, and subsequently ineffective!
The fact that it’s relatively early days could explain the lack of advice, but most things are online super-fast nowadays… does that mean that publishing on LinkedIn is indeed a pain rather than a privilege?
Hi Linda ˆthis is a question I’m still pondering. I can barely keep up with my own posts, so am wondering if this is really worthwhile. Have you tried it? Any clarity on why or why not to publish via LinkedIn?
Hi Joe. Me too! The majority of my contacts seem to think pain rather than privilege, but there have been some positive comments about increased views/reach and engagement. See: https://blog.cubesocial.com/2014/08/publishing-on-linkedin-pros-and-cons/ for more details.