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?

Next steps...

• What is the nature of ‘successful learning discussions’ – those that result in high levels of engagement?

• What evidence do we see of learning and sharing of knowledge in these conversations?