Let's Work Through This Logic

So I posted my LinkedIn question (on the LinkedIn Answers area of LI) and got three answers, and I must say that they all had a certain quality - a kind of quality that I hear all the time when my kids argue. One kid will say "We should do this" and another kid will say "That's stupid." That's all the kids says. Not "maybe you want to try this or that" or anything beyond "bad idea." So I'm skeptical of the nay-saying answers. They don't add anything to the conversation. Here's the whole thing - my question and the three answers, with names removed. Still, I welcome these Answerers in our group.

MY QUESTION:

When LinkedIn recently began displaying the number of a LI user's "Best Answers" under his or her name in the Answer section of the site, it gave me an idea. It struck me that if I could sort LI users by the number of Best Answer designations they've earned, that would be a great thing.

I'd love to know more about and converse more often with the subject-matter experts whose answers tend to get them Best Answer nods. But I can't do that, as far as I know. So, I had the idea to reach out to the Best Answer recipients one by one and invite them (including you, if you're one of them) to join a LinkedIn group specifically for LI users whose answers tend to end up in the Best Answer spot. The group has launched, and it's called Expert Forum.

The initial membership requirement for Expert Forum is two Best Answers on LinkedIn. There is one other membership requirement: An Expert Forum member can't display his or her email address in his or her LinkedIn "headline," or the number of his or her LI contacts anywhere in the profile. So this group, Expert Forum, exists, and if you'd like to join us, here is the link:

http://tinyurl.com/5p364t

You can invite your friends to join as well. As a reminder, the two membership requirements are at least two Best Answer designations on LI Answers (and those answers must be relevant to your field of expertise - not, for instance, the Best Answer to a question like "What ingredients go into the perfect sundae?"); no email address in your LI 'headline'; and no mention of the number of LI contacts you've got anywhere in your profile. Questions? Please contact me at liz @ asklizryan.com Thanks!

Clarification added 2 hours ago:

I hear you Sheila -- what's even worse is the way LI designates "this week's Top Experts" according to the number of questions someone has answered! I definitely wouldn't trust the expertise of someone who spends the day answering questions on LinkedIn. Still, I trust the community here to award Best Answer nods as judiciously as any other, arbitrary system might do - it's a Web 2.0 world, right? I'll be anxious to see who comes along and joins the group. I have been very impressed with the answers I've seen contributed here by Best Answer-ers and would love to know more of them better than I do now. Cheers - Liz


Hi Liz, I would have to agree with the others. If you are the only one to answer then you are the "Only Best" by default and not your expertise. I did join you group regardless because it is always fun to hang out with the "Ryans".

Hi Liz, Linkedin uses the term "expert" quite loosely on this site. The best answer awards are very subjective and although many are earned with the actual best answer, many are given because the answer agreed with the askers point of view. By gathering those of us with best answers you may not actually be getting many true experts. What you are getting are people who give answers others like. Sheilah


Liz, I agree to xxx...in fact sometimes you're the only one who answered and might end up being "Best" because the person closed the question and rated the answer...the term "expert" on LI is actually not very well defined neither is the expertness measured in any terms... I enjoy answering questions in all categories and have at least couple "Best Answer"s in several of them but it doesn't necessarily make me the expert of those fields. My interest lies in Accounting, Small Businesses, Start-ups, and Web Technologies which is where I've considerable number of Best Answers (if you search experts by category) these are the categories I love to read and respond and these are my areas of speciality; regardless I'd love to be a part of your group, I'm sure I'll learn from fellow networkers and experts.

The Expert Forum Story

Let me be the first to acknowledge that Expert Forum is the most bland and uncreative name a blog ever had.

Here is the story behind this blog. I'm an avid LinkedIn user. I have my issues with the site but I'm glad it exists. I like to teach other people how to use LinkedIn, too. When I get the urge to, I go on LinkedIn and answer the questions in the LinkedIn Answers section.

And whenever I go to the site and look through the collected Answers, this is what I find: about five percent of the answers are really outstanding -- perceptive, nuanced, thoughtful.

No disrespect to the other ninety-five percent of Answerers intended, but, whoa.

Some of the questions are pretty goofy, too. But the Answers....you see things like
"I don't know anything about this topic, but have a great day."

Okay, thanks a million for that.

Anyway, I go on LinkedIn and read through these Answers and I think "I want to know this five percent. I would like to know them, and I'd like for them to know one another."

That is the story behind this blog. To create a Group on LinkedIn, you need a group website external to LinkedIn, so this is the site. This blog is it. I will invite the LinkedIn users that I can find who have at least two Best Answer ratings. Does this mean that other people are less brilliant? No. But you've got to have some criterion for expertise, right? I don't think two Best Answer ratings is half bad. But you could advise me on that.

You can reach me at liz @ asklizryan dot com if you like.
Twitter: asklizryan
Cheers -- Liz