Life in society: from promise to performance
Linkedin's Answers feature, where you can ask 10 questions per month and write as many answers to others' questions as you like, is a new powerful and popular feature.
It's not entirely new since Yahoo! Answers launched something similar. However, unlike Yahoo! Answers (www.answers.yahoo.com) Linkedin Answers identifies each person, so this ensures that questions asked and answers provided are intelligent (otherwise, you basically ruin your reputation in the Linkedin community of 9 million users, many of whom might be potential business partners or employers).
But it's not just about asking questions and writing answers. Something else is at play. It's what I call the mega-shift from "potential" to "performance."
Without LI Answers, all you could do was browse through people's profiles, and make a mental determination as to what they could do (as a future employee, partner or general connection). You could not see people perform, all you could see is their "potential."
With LI Answers, a careful reader can observe how people actually "perform" intellectually. Their answers (and even their questions) can be assessed using a variety of criteria to determine the amount of knowledge the person has, as well as his/her consulting skill (that is, his ability analyze the question, identify the main need behind it, and provide a satisfactory, detailed, specific and comprehensive answer).
I quickly became the #17 ranked expert on Linkedin worldwide, perhaps this is why so many people have invited and keep inviting me to their network. However, the main benefit is not increased visibility but the ability to see what interests other people, so I can partner with them for joint business ventures or collaborative product development.
It's not entirely new since Yahoo! Answers launched something similar. However, unlike Yahoo! Answers (www.answers.yahoo.com) Linkedin Answers identifies each person, so this ensures that questions asked and answers provided are intelligent (otherwise, you basically ruin your reputation in the Linkedin community of 9 million users, many of whom might be potential business partners or employers).
But it's not just about asking questions and writing answers. Something else is at play. It's what I call the mega-shift from "potential" to "performance."
Without LI Answers, all you could do was browse through people's profiles, and make a mental determination as to what they could do (as a future employee, partner or general connection). You could not see people perform, all you could see is their "potential."
With LI Answers, a careful reader can observe how people actually "perform" intellectually. Their answers (and even their questions) can be assessed using a variety of criteria to determine the amount of knowledge the person has, as well as his/her consulting skill (that is, his ability analyze the question, identify the main need behind it, and provide a satisfactory, detailed, specific and comprehensive answer).
I quickly became the #17 ranked expert on Linkedin worldwide, perhaps this is why so many people have invited and keep inviting me to their network. However, the main benefit is not increased visibility but the ability to see what interests other people, so I can partner with them for joint business ventures or collaborative product development.
posted by Super Peter at 12:09 PM
