Do you use Linkedin Answers? Have you had any success with it?

Yesterday I was giving some Linkedin training and the subject of Linkedin Answers came up. As a result we used the service to ask the question which titles this blog post: Do you use Linkedin Answers? Have you had any success with it?

Asking the question gave me the opportunity to demonstrate how to use Linkedin Answers, a service where you can ask the entire Linkedin network worldwide a question. I also hoped that doing so would demonstrate how the service works, and whether it would deliver useful value.

I’ve used Answers in three ways.

1. To get advice on how to use Linkedin from people who use it regularly;
2. To get help looking for a specific person who may be outside my network (for example, a reliable lettings agent in Ipswich)
3. To get advice on how to give a presentation to a specific audience.

All three worked really well, particularly the third. In both 2 and 3 above I send copies of the message to people in my network who I thought might know the answer, as well as making the question public. I had useful response from people I knew and also complete strangers. On the third I also blogged about the issue on my website which encouraged a wider group of people to go and look at the question. The best answer came from someone I was connected to on Linkedin through a personal contact, who happened to be related to someone who knew the exact answer I needed – out of Linkedin and back in again!

So what are people on Linkedin saying in answer to my question? Go and have a look here. And what is your experience? Please feel free to share.

Image: See Something Say Something (London) by Eric Fischer (Creative Commons)