On Friday the 15th August Linkedin decided to reduce the Management rights of its Group managers. Groups are managed on Linkedin either actively or passively. What I mean by that is that if you have a meaningful group such as the one I manage which is the Wikinomics group, which I want to stimulate and add value to I need to have occasional contact with the group members. This is an actively managed group. The majority of groups on Linkedin however are simply maintained by the manager checking the credentials of the applicant and on confirmation of their being alumni of a previous company for which the group was created for example,  are approved and never contacted by the group manager again. There is a place for these groups but the greatest value in group dynamics is set out in the magnificent speech by Clay Shirky http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html . I could not come close to explaining it as well as he does, as to what would make a group successful.

Linkedin have now stopped giving the e-mail address for the list of members which prohibits the fundamental needs of any online group manager. It has also stifled the group managers in many other ways overnight http://gsfn.us/t/kd3 If you do feel the same way as I do then please pass this link on to others.

This is an example of how over time members of groups will gravitate to where they feel most comfortable. My feeling is still that the place for "Collaborative Business Networks" is still not Facebook but hey this may be our only alternative if Linkedin don't get their act together soon.