Many people own, manage, and moderate a number of groups on LinkedIn. The membership of many of the groups runs into the thousands. In addition to owning, managing, and moderating LinkedIn groups, many people contribute to other groups and hold the distinguished position of influencer.
I started moderating when I started to find out moderating variable what social media was all about. I soon discovered that sites like LinkedIn offered good opportunities but were generally poorly managed and moderated. I wanted to make the groups I participated in better for members and for me as well.
Mostly, I disliked all the “Non Discussions” that appeared in the discussion groups. At best, most were self-promotional. At worst, some of those folks were just blocking up the groups’ arteries and needed to go elsewhere.
Moderation? What is Moderation?
Moderation is the process of eliminating or lessening extremes. In a group or forum, a moderator may remove unsuitable contributions in accordance with the Rules and/or their moderation system.
A moderator oversees the communication activity He or she monitors the interchange of contributors.
Laissez faire or managed? Some people think that LinkedIn groups are public forums and that they should have the right to what they consider to be “free speech.”
LinkedIn is not a public forum. Groups are about membership and accepting the groups’ rules.
How to be a good moderator
Get to know the community of a group, especially the most active members. Talk to them, let them propose ideas, try to tell them the projects that you have in mind for this forum and convey to them the rules that you are imposing for each section that you moderate.
A group is good mostly because it has good members. Try to cultivate those who do the best posts/contributions. Refer to them. “Like” their posts.
Good moderators are primarily working to try to make their groups better for the members, not for themselves.
Moderator duties are as diverse as the group topics themselves. Some moderators are virtually invisible; they surface only when situations arise that do not seem likely to resolve themselves. Other forum moderators are always there; ready to intercede at the first hint of discourse. I am mostly of the latter way of moderation. I step back when I can, though.