from Hacker News

Linkedin Answers Shuts Down

by JimWillTri on 2/1/13, 3:53 PM with 30 comments

And I just started looking at them a few days ago.

  • by meritt on 2/1/13, 5:15 PM

    LinkedIn needs to shut down endorsements next. I'm tired of people endorsing me for skills they don't actually lend any credibility to. Although I'll admit it's fun to counter their generosity by endorsing them in Alcoholism and Horse Training.

  • by donretag on 2/1/13, 6:08 PM

    Has LinkedIn launched any usable features (Endorsements and LinkedIn Today do not count IMHO) in the past few years? They removed Events, Answers, Github integration, job search agents and others. Groups are basically spam repositories. Not sure exactly what they are working on.

  • by Angostura on 2/1/13, 4:21 PM

    A shame. I found Answers actually a great place to network virtually. In the old days, before it was hidden, I used to answer a couple of questions a week and made sure I did it well. Made some nice new connections and actually garnered some work that way.

    In comparison, I find he Groups noisy and pointless.

  • by codegeek on 2/1/13, 4:37 PM

    In my opinion, linkedin answers were far better than the groups. Groups are easy to start but hard to maintain and keep engaged. I have learnt that the best way to keep audience focussed is to give specifics which answers can do better than a group. For example, creating a group called "Python developers" might attract a few folks but what do you do when you join it ? A more specific question like "What technology stack is used by python developers for web" will definitely attract a more engaged conversation.

  • by codegeek on 2/1/13, 8:19 PM

    I have successfully used Linkedin 3 times in last 6 years to secure a contract job.I was able to do that due to a very niche profile and well connected with similar co-workers in the industry. That is where the strength of Linkedin is: networking/connections with your co-workers. I can keep tab on my ex and present co-workers as to where they are, what they are doing and if they could be useful to me for a next gig or reference etc. The recommendation feature can be useful if done well. I have a decent number of recommendations but all are from actual co-workers I worked with on many projects and I ask them to be specific if they do want to give a recommendation. Generic ones are BS.

    Everything else like endorsements (the most useless feature) groups, answers, job postings are mostly crap and does not really add much more value than other existing career sites.

    For example, if I am interested in a person/company, I try to look them up on linkedin. Their profile tells me what I need to know if they have relevant information listed. To an extent, I could care about their "answers" or group activity but does it really mean much when the newsfeed says "X person just joined IT professionals group". Sure, other than the fact that I already know he is IT professional.

  • by adam_lowe on 2/1/13, 4:12 PM

    meh, I don't know if accountants and lawyers gave that any use but never even looked or thought about that for questions or research. Linkedin is a good way for non-technical people to see a non-technical profile for you. They should just be focus on being good at that, job postings (which aren't that great/overpriced) and a company directory.

  • by Tekker on 2/2/13, 12:59 AM

    I liked the "Was this answer helpful?" at the end. Nice touch.

  • by Snoptic on 2/1/13, 4:21 PM

    Congrats. Halfway to the ultimate goal.