When LinkedIn started the rollout of its publishing platform earlier this year, I asked: is publishing on LinkedIn a privilege or a pain?

A few months on, most seem to think the latter! But there are some positive experiences to share too…

Tipping the scales towards Pain:

Charles Christian, Award-winning legal technology journalist
I’ve published there but think LinkedIn has lost the plot, and object to the fact that premium users get to be influencers.

Julian Summerhayes, Consultant | Coach | Speaker
I think people will regret publishing on LinkedIn. What I’ve seen so far doesn’t fill me with much hope that people have thought about their buyer persona, the digital buyer journey and how LinkedIn has treated its users in the past with dumping certain aspects of the platform.

Janet Bebb, Social Media Trainer, Content Manager & Consultant
I’ve not got round to publishing yet. Reason – not even blogged on my own site so hardly likely to blog on LinkedIn. Negatives: Seeing some peoples articles that I’m 1st line connected to that I’d rather not! Benefits: just that, it can get you back in front of your contacts!

Aynsley Damery, Partner, Tayabali Tomlin
Honestly, a pain in addition to the TT blog, status updates, posts, tweets, etc. Agree with the valid concerns in your blog! For me, the idea is good, but… need to focus on 1, 2, 3 [what to write; how to find the time; and being mindful that the content is not under your control].

Tara Taubman, Founder at FlyAKite.org
Technically, just ok. Had trouble editing my first post from iPad and some comments won’t show on iPhone. Also, in a very short time, one day, LinkedIn is saying more than 250 views, so I am a bit sceptical.

Tipping the scales towards Privilege:

Jennifer Janson, Managing Director at Six Degrees
Despite the fact that I regularly post on the Six Degrees blog, I only rarely get comments. Within 24 hours of adding my first post to LinkedIn, I had comments which included lively debate among the readers. I think that’s priceless. It might mean that I am doing something wrong on my own blog, or more likely, it means that there truly is power in the LinkedIn network.  Although it will add greater demands on my time, it’s a wonderful way to stay connected with my connections on LinkedIn, in a meaningful way. I do worry about the fact that my content might one day disappear on the whim of someone at LinkedIn, but while the publisher platform is there, I am going to do my best to use it.

Deb Dobson, Marketing Technology Manager at Fisher & Phillips LLP
My firm and I have been busy writing on the platform. We are seeing an increase in views, engagement and followers. It’s easier to get in front of a target audience and if a post gets picked up by a LinkedIn Pulse Channel than it really gets distributed to those following specific topics. One post got picked up by two channels that were definitely the audience the post was meant for. I would encourage the doubter to consider it one more place to publish on in addition to website/blog. We are using standard [rather than premium accounts].

Paolo Fabrizio, Social CRM I Blogger I Speaker
My opinion was and remains very good. In particular, I’ve experienced positive results in terms of reach, networking and engagement. I set a clear strategy before posting my first article. That was: 1) Writing on LinkedIn only in English; 2) Not copying or mixing any content of my Italian blog; 3) Covering the same topics (social customer care, corporate blog, online reputation). If you don’t have a clear strategy, you won’t get any result. In such cases, just don’t do it!

How are you finding publishing on LinkedIn? Do your experiences tip the scales towards privilege or pain?