LinkedIn's Upcoming Changes to Groups

I just got this email from LinkedIn:

Dear Bill,

As an active member of LinkedIn Groups, we wanted to let you know about some changes we're putting in place in the coming weeks.

We are in the process of adding new functionality to enhance the experience of Groups, including the recent release of a searchable directory. We are also working with our development teams to bring new tools and widgets to this collaborative space throughout the rest of 2008.

We are also at this time making some changes to the user-created groups we host. These changes include adding a limit to the number of user-created groups any LinkedIn member may be part of at one time. Currently we are setting that limit at membership in 50 (fifty) user-created groups.

You are currently a member of 280 groups. Please take the time before this limit goes into place on August 14, 2008, to choose which groups you would like to maintain. To remove yourself from a group, go to the My Groups page and click the word "Settings" next to the group you wish to leave. At the bottom of the settings page click the text "Leave this group."

We would appreciate it if you would please take this action within the next 10 days. If you would prefer, after 30 days we will automatically keep the first 50 groups that you joined and remove the rest.

If you would like assistance removing yourself from groups, or if you have any other questions, please contact us at http://linkedin.custhelp.com or groups@linkedin.com.

We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause you, but we hope you will continue to find value in LinkedIn and especially enjoy the new functionality of LinkedIn Groups that is coming soon.

Regards,
The LinkedIn team

While I am excited about the long overdue functionality for groups, the limit at 50 is rather infuriating. I largely use groups for the ability to contact fellow group members without burning a precious inmail. The process of removing myself from 230 groups will certainly be tedious, but my heart really goes out for those who spent countless hours joining thousands of groups.

LinkedIn, I'm sure, has observed countless off-site groups being set up on Ning and CollectiveX and are missing the revenues that they could be bringing in by keeping people on their site. I have personally set up seven sites for my LinkedIn groups (www.usarmynetwork and www.itcontract.ning.com, for example), so I can only imagine how many of the other groups have done the same. This won't stop people from creating the sites off of LinkedIn, but it will reduce the incentive for group members to join yet another site.

Truth be told, this goes back to my conspiracy theory about LinkedIn's attempt to restrict the open networker (see this post).

infoGIST vs. TalentHook vs. SourcePoint vs. DataFrenzy

If you use job boards to source candidates - including pay boards, free boards, Craigslist and LinkedIn - you can either go from one site to the next duplicating your searches or you can use a resume aggregator to compile them into a single list. It is a huge time saver if you are a frequent visitor to multiple sites. This posting is not going to be a comprehensive review of each of the four tools, but rather a brief comparison and my final verdict on which one I chose for my company. It's also important to note that I posted a question about this on LinkedIn and am drawing from the answers given.

DataFrenzy RAM - Advantages: Because it is web-based, DataFrenzy allows multiple users to share a single license. Information is shared, so if you contact a candidate through the interface, other recruiters can see that activity. The price is the cheapest of the bunch at $1,200 per year ($100 per month) and there are no long term contracts, so you can cancel at any time. Disadvantages: Only 10 searches can be performed per day per license. I know that many recruiters like to set up hordes of agents to continually scour the resume universe, so this would necessitate buying multiple licenses. The bulk email feature is limited to a few hundred people at a time.

AIRS SourcePoint - Advantages: Gobs of functionality. This is a very robust tool. It's also web-based, so there is multi-user collaboration. Disadvantages: More functionality than I needed (includes ATS, career site, job publishing). It was the most expensive of the bunch at $4,490 for a single OFCCP enterprise license.

TalentHook - This has been my bread and butter for the last year. Advantages: Very intuitive (although they require a training session before you can get full access). Lots of sites added weekly and great partnerships with many popular ATS. Sweet bulk email application. Handles OFCCP compliance. Disadvantages: New features means new prices. A single-user annual subscription runs $3,495 per year plus a setup fee. Comes with a built in ATS (not as good as a stand alone ATS). Resides on your machine, so you can't collaborate easily with other users.

infoGIST's Platinum Recruiter - For most of the sourcers out there, it might be enough to say that Shally Steckerl uses this product. For the rest of you - Advantages: Search results are rated according to their match against your search criteria. Second best price of the bunch: $2,500 per year for a single user license. Handles OFCCP compliance. Disadvantages: Resides on your machine. Isn't integrated with as many applicant tracking systems as TalentHook...but Shally likes it, so who cares?

VERDICT: We signed up for a year long contract with infoGIST. I felt that it is the best bang for the buck for the features that are important to my business. Ask me in a few months if I made the right decision.

Have you used one of the tools? Do you use a different aggregator that isn't listed? Did I leave out something important? Please share your comments.