LinkedIn has started sending owners of certain LinkedIn Groups email letting them know that on Friday they'll be enabling a new discussions capability for group managers and members. A friend received the information for his LinkedIn group today, but I have not yet received it for the one I co-manage, PDX Tech. So, it's not clear whether this is rolling out to all groups or just some.

The addition of this new Groups functionality is a great move. To date, people who manage LinkedIn groups have had very limited options in terms of how to enable networking and communication among their groups. One can manually export a delimited-text file in a few formats to let you send emails, but outside of that the group interaction model has been short-featured, and required use of outside services - a sloppy model at best.

In addition to the group discussions, they plan to release an enhanced, searchable membership roster capability. Earlier this summer they introduced a searchable Groups directory. Positive changes appear to be happening.

Below are the details from the LinkedIn email.

Dear #####,

First, thank you for managing your group on LinkedIn. We sincerely appreciate the time and effort you devote to your members, and we know they value it. Together you have made Groups one of the top features on LinkedIn.

This Friday, we will be adding several much-requested features to your group:

• Discussion forums: Simple discussion spaces for you and your members. (You can turn discussions off in your management control panel if you like.)
• Enhanced roster: Searchable list of group members.
• Digest emails: Daily or weekly digests of new discussion topics which your members may choose to receive. (We will be turning digests on for all current group members soon, and prompting them to set to their own preference.)
• Group home page: A private space for your members on LinkedIn.

We're confident that these new features will spur communication, promote collaboration, and make your group more valuable to you and your members. We hope you can come by LinkedIn on Friday morning to check out the new functionality and get a group discussion going by posting a welcome message.

Sincerely,
The LinkedIn Groups Team