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The ‘LinkedIn effect¹’:A new way of learning?
Focus on project management communities
Prepared for Open University module H818 by Louise Worsley¹The Linked in effect’, Forbes, 2014
Part 3: The nature of engagement in selected PM communities
What’s this about?
How are social networks such as LinkedIn being used to enhance and extend learning?
Part 3:How are discussion conducted on project manager community groups? What evidence do we see of learning an sharing of knowledge?
Seeking input from
Part 1: Unstructured feedback LinkedIn groups (Nov – 10 responses)
Part 2: Survey posted to PM groups (Jan /33 responses)
Part 3: Analysis of selected group discussions (3 from 10 groups)
This presentation looks at results
from here
A reminder from Part 2
21%
55%
24%
Post a messageEvery week Occasionally Never
19%
65%
15%
Respond to a messageEvery week Occasionally Never
While 85% of survey respondents use LinkedIn every week, only 20% are active in the community groups - posting or responding to posts
“In general, the stronger the relationship between a group and its members, the greater the willingness of group members to engage in behaviours, that support the group.”(Stets & Burke, 2000)
A reminder from part 2
Maintaining/growing professional relationships
Creating professional relationships
Seeking information on practices in other groups
Promoting myself
Seeking answers to specific work-related questions
Promoting my work/company
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
LinkedIn: What I find helpful
40% reported “Seeking information on practices in other groups” as very helpful
Project management communities
Over 700 PM related groups on LinkedIn
¹Generic PM groups selected on basis of membership numbers
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
S6
S7
S8
S9
S10
- 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000 700,000
Membership of top 10 PM groups¹
Top 3 have high % of North American
members
But does big mean active?
Data extracted 14/11/14
Not familiar with LinkedIn?
A discussion
13 Comments & 14 likes on this
discussion
‘Poster’ identifies types of
discussion
The community
But does big mean active?
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
S6
S7
S8
S10
S10
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Nature of group postings
DiscussionsJobsPromotions
While Group 1 has a lot of posts, many of
these are classified as jobs and promotions
So proportionately where are the most ‘real’ discussions going on?
Data for 1 week of posts extracted 14/11/14 and 19/1/15 and averaged
Group 6 is mainly discussions
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
S6
S7
S8
S9
S10
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Discussions to promotions /jobs
Ratio of discussions to promotions and jobs
Where, proportionately are most discussions going on?
In group 6, we have the highest proportion of
discussions (as opposed to job and promotions
posts)
But are all discussions ‘engaging’?
But are all discussions ‘engaging’?
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
S6
S7
S8
S9
S10
- 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Discussion to comments ratio
Ratio of discussions to comments
So which groups are likely to be most involved in learning discussions?
What’s happened to Group 6!
This means that each discussion generates proportionally more
comments which suggests Group 2 is generating most
community engagement
Engagement analysisRankings
Groups Size Types of discussions
Engagement in discussions Weighted rank
S1 1 8 2 2S2 2 9 1 1S3 3 10 3 3S4 4 3 8 6
S5 5 7 6 7
S6 6 1 9 8
S7 7 4 5 3S8 8 6 4 5
S9 9 2 10 10
S10 10 4 7 9
Weighting = Average (Size + 2xTypes + 3xEngagement)
Proportion of discussions to
other posts
Proportion of comments to
posts
Number of members
Selecting discussions
• One week in January (3rd-10th)• All discussion posted across the
three groups – Groups 1,2 and 7
• In-depth look at a popular discussion in each group
Aim: To identify how many discussions take place that might result in learning
Aim: To suggest the nature of learning
Part 4 of research
How to categorise discussions?
A. Seeking advice /informationB. Information request (research &
surveys)C. Provoke debateD. Share informationE. Personal promotionF. Corporate promotion
A, B, C - These are most like ‘learning discussions’
Example of analysis
Hello, can someone explain sigma to me in layman's terms? Any help would be appreciated!
What makes a great project manager?
Sridhar Peddisetty discusses the establishment of a PMO. Links to www.
How to manage in a crisis – Air Asia flight QZ8501 and Links to www.
These are tricky to identify and may look like
information sharing. They always contain a link either to personal blog or corporate page
Post Analysis
Seeking advice /information
Provoke debate
I am doing research on… please complete this survey
Information request (research & surveys)
Corporate Promotion
Personal promotion
What types of discussion take place?
Share information
Corporate Promotion
Seeking advice /information
Provoke debate
Personal promotion
Information request (research & surveys)
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.0
Average number of discussions (over 1 week)
Does the type of discussion effect the level of engagement?
These are the potential ‘learning engagements’
Levels of engagement
But are all groups the same?
Information request (research & surveys)
Corporate Promotion
Personal promotion
Share information
Provoke debate
Seeking advice /information
0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0120.0140.0160.0180.0200.0
Average comments/likes per discussion
Average comments Average likes
Comments Likes
These types of discussions result in far higher levels
of engagement
Do groups differ?
Look how large the non-
learning engagements are in these
groups
So what’s happening in group 2?
1. Provoke debate
2. Information R&D
3. Seek advice/info
3. Others
Group 1
Group 2
Group 7
4
4
1
1
1
22
2
3
3
3
The impact of ‘moderation’ on a group
It’s moderated!
Not only does group 2 have the highest average comments per discussion, it has the highest number of comments overall!
Group 1
Group 2
Group 7
0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00 40.00 45.00
Comments & likes for each group
Average comments Average likes
Comments
Likes
Comments
CommentsLikes
Likes
The impact of ‘moderation’ on a group
It may also affect who participates.
Comments
Group 1
Group 2
Group 7
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
Average number of discussions started by a group member
In group 1, two members
dominated, contributing 26 of
the 49 conversations
during the week studied
Examples of conversations that generate engagement
Conversation Category Comments Likes
Describe Project Management in three words! Provoke debate 4004 457
Is PMP overvalued? (PMP is referring to a specific PM qualification) Provoke debate 1035 118
What is your most favorite project management document? Provoke debate 892 180
How do you manage multitasking? What tips do you have for others?
Seeking advice /information 510 98
What is your favorite motivational quote? Provoke debate 332 19
What are the components of "project context"?
Seeking advice /information 128 34
Should a project Charter have the acceptance criteria?
Seeking advice /information 94 19
Women in Project Management - Why so few? Provoke debate 68 7
Good books to get you started in PM? Please share?
Seeking advice /information 28 3
How to promote learning through online communities of practices?
“In general, the stronger the relationship between a group and its members, the greater the willingness of group members to engage in behaviours, that support the group.”(Stets & Burke, 2000)
Are the relationships between members creating the stronger community behaviors in Group 2?
For group 2:
Or does the ‘facilitation’ create the environment in which members who are unknown to each other feel safe and willing to contribute?