Social media mobile apps have made me disregard things like Linked In groups. I've been missing out on a huge part of LinkedIn and thought I should scream it from the rooftops all the things the new LinkedIn groups can offer people in social media positions. To put it ever so bluntly,
LinkedIn Groups Rock
The obvious start would be to tell you that LinkedIn groups offer everyone networking on a much more open spectrum. LinkedIn permissions aren't as strict and you're able to share thoughts, links, and replies with the entire group community. You can't say that for Facebook groups. This takes networking to an entirely new level and allows you to focus groups based on leads, professionalism; whatever you want. Closed groups are a different beast altogether.
The next best thing is you can now search for 2nd connections. These are people not immediately within your network, but have been dancing on the outskirts of it. It's headhunting for people you'll probably benefit from talking with in LinkedIn groups. In addition to searching for the best LinkedIn groups to join this gives you the ability to scour for the best LinkedIn members to connect with. A huge advantage for anyone looking to increase the quality of their connections without resorting to spam tactics.
And since we're talking about attracting the best people to connect with look at the race for influence. Pretty impressive Nick. This is for the Rutgers Alumni group and shows who is contributing the most to the group in terms of action, engagement, and content. Nick has that scarlet knight fever.
LinkedIn groups look like a fantastic way to connect rather than just picking random people over keywords in LinkedIn search.