LinkedIn groups have been around since 2007, providing a way for LinkedIn members to connect and engage with others around shared interests, professions, industries, and more. At their peak, there were over 1 million LinkedIn groups with various levels of activity. However, with the rise of other social media platforms and networks, some have wondered if LinkedIn groups are still being utilized in a meaningful way.
Brief history of LinkedIn groups
LinkedIn launched groups in 2007 as a way for members to connect with one another based on shared interests, affiliations, goals, and more. Groups enabled members to have discussions, share content, post job openings, make announcements, and network.
In the early years of LinkedIn groups, they experienced rapid growth. By 2008, there were over 100,000 groups, and by 2013 there were over 1 million groups on LinkedIn.
The feature was especially popular among industry professionals, alumni groups, special interest groups, networking groups, niche communities, and more. Groups enabled meaningful connections and discussions to occur within specific target audiences on LinkedIn.
However, in more recent years, usage and engagement of some LinkedIn groups has declined, leading some to wonder if the platform is still actively utilized. This raises the question: do people still use LinkedIn groups in 2023?
Current usage statistics
Currently, there are over 2 million LinkedIn groups. However, only a fraction of these appear to still have regular, active discussions. According to LinkedIn, here are some stats on current LinkedIn group usage:
– There are over 69 million LinkedIn group memberships, indicating many individual users are joining multiple groups.
– Each week, there are over 4.2 million comments generated across groups.
– There are approximately 100,000 moderator roles currently filled to oversee group activity and discussions.
– The most popular groups currently include: Project Management, Digital Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Software Development, Consulting, Career Advice, Sales, IT Management, and Cloud Computing.
– The most active demographic groups are around higher education, including college alumni, specific degree programs, and higher ed institutions.
So while many groups appear dormant, these metrics indicate there are still active users and moderators keeping some niche LinkedIn groups vibrant and engaging.
Benefits of active LinkedIn groups
There are several benefits that active LinkedIn groups can provide, which may contribute to why many still utilize them:
– **Networking:** Groups enable connecting with other professionals in your industry around the world. This provides networking opportunities.
– **Thought leadership:** By actively posting content and engaging in group discussions, users can build their professional brand and thought leadership.
– **Job opportunities:** Many groups share and discuss job and career opportunities within an industry.
– **Advice:** Groups provide the ability to ask for advice, best practices, feedback, and insights from other group members.
– **Community:** For professions or niche interests that don’t have thriving in-person meetups or interactions, groups allow digital community.
– **Targeted discussions:** The focused nature of groups allows for conversations around specific topics instead of general social media chatter.
– **Problem solving:** Groups enable crowd-sourcing solutions to challenges and problems industry professionals face.
So for those looking for niche networking and community around particular topics, active LinkedIn groups can still provide value.
Ways LinkedIn groups are used
Those who are still actively participating in LinkedIn groups use them in several key ways:
– Share industry news articles, research, and publications
– Promote and link to their professional website content
– Ask for feedback, advice, recommendations, and insights on industry topics
– Share job, internship, or other career opportunities
– Post surveys, research participation opportunities, or recruitment for studies
– Promote professional events, conferences, and networking meetups
– Pose questions on best practices, strategies, techniques, tools, and platforms
– Conduct informational interviews and build professional relationships
– Give back and mentor others just starting in the industry
– Build thought leadership and reputation by providing valuable contributions
So while not as active as their early days, thriving LinkedIn groups provide valuable industry engagement for those focused on professional networking, career development, and building subject matter expertise.
Most popular types of active LinkedIn groups
The LinkedIn groups that continue to see the highest levels of active participation include:
– Alumni groups – For networking amongst graduates from specific universities and degree programs.
– Local/city groups – Connecting professionals within specific geographic regions.
– Industry niche groups – Discussing specific professions, skills, job types, and interest areas.
– Corporate groups – Created by and focused around specific companies.
– Higher education groups – For higher ed professionals to connect on issues and topics.
– Career advice groups – Helping members navigate professional advancement.
– Leadership groups – Focused on management, leadership, and organizational best practices.
So even though general purpose groups have declined, these specific niche and demographic groups continue to thrive on LinkedIn.
Most engaging group topics
Some topic areas that tend to have consistent, active engagement within LinkedIn groups include:
– Cybersecurity
– Digital marketing
– Social media marketing
– Human resources
– Entrepreneurship
– Project management
– Data & analytics
– UX design
– Software engineering
– Artificial intelligence
– Customer success
Professional skills, technical subjects, specialized services, and niche interests tend to drive the most passionate and enthusiastic group participation on LinkedIn.
Decline in popularity of some LinkedIn groups
While active engagement remains strong for the niche groups discussed above, many observers have noted a general decline in LinkedIn group participation over the past decade. Here are some factors that may have contributed to this decline:
– **Competition from other platforms** – When groups first launched, LinkedIn was one of the only professional social networks. Since then, numerous platforms have emerged that allow users to have specialized discussions within communities. For example, the rise of Reddit, Quora, Discord servers, Slack groups, and more have created alternatives to LinkedIn group discussions.
– **Shift to mobile** – The majority of time spent on LinkedIn now occurs on mobile. But the group interface and capabilities are far more limited and clunky in the mobile app, which likely limits interest and engagement.
– **Algorithmic feed deprioritization** – LinkedIn’s algorithm now emphasizes showing posts from your own connections in the main feed rather than group content. This means group updates are less prominent.
– **Declining email notifications** – LinkedIn made groups an opt-in for email updates in 2013. This dramatically reduced visibility into group activity for many members.
– **Lower organic reach** – Changes to LinkedIn’s algorithm also mean posts within groups typically have lower organic reach than they used to, reducing incentive to actively participate.
– **Limitations of LinkedIn platform** – Compared to more interactive, multimedia-focused platforms, LinkedIn’s relatively simple functionality may not foster the same community engagement.
– **Ghost groups** – The vast majority of LinkedIn groups are no longer active at all. This likely disincentives users from exploring groups since most consist of outdated, irrelevant content.
So while niche groups are still actively utilized, changes to LinkedIn, user behavior shifts, and emergence of alternatives all contributed to the decline in popularity of general LinkedIn group engagement for many members.
Tips for getting value from LinkedIn groups
For those looking to still leverage LinkedIn groups for professional networking and community in 2023, here are some tips:
– **Search niche, specific groups** – Look for smaller, targeted groups focused on your industry, interests, school, etc. Avoid giant, generic groups.
– **Set group email notifications** – Opt into getting email alerts so you stay up-to-date on the most relevant group activity without checking manually.
– **Contribute valuable insights** – Post regularly with helpful advice, articles, and perspectives to build connections and establish yourself as an expert.
– **Follow up with members** – If you have a meaningful group exchange, follow up over email or LinkedIn messages to further the relationship.
– **Ask smart questions** – Pose insightful questions to the group to spark engaging discussions that provide professional value.
– **Monitor + engage daily** – Check your groups and notifications daily and engage with relevant discussions to become a recognized active member.
– **Find your niche community** – Identify a handful of niche groups to engage with consistently based on your specialties and interests.
While fewer professionals may leverage LinkedIn groups than during their heyday, they can still provide valuable connections, discussions, and community for those focused on niche industries, interests, schools, and disciplines.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while the majority of LinkedIn groups have fallen silent, certain active niche groups focused around specialties, industries, alumni groups, higher education, careers, and other targeted topics continue to thrive on the platform.
For professionals interested in networking, knowledge sharing, career development, and specialized communities, regularly engaging in these active, niche LinkedIn groups can provide unique value and relevant discussions often not found elsewhere.
However, professionals will need to be selective in identifying thriving groups relevant to their interests and be active, consistent contributors within those groups to maximize their membership.
With over 2 million groups in existence, LinkedIn groups may no longer have the broad appeal and ubiquity they once did. But the platform still contains pockets of professionals actively connecting, engaging, and contributing daily via active niche groups relevant to their focus and community.