Collaborative Articles vs Comments

In March of 2023, LinkedIn 's editor-in-chief Daniel Roth announced the company's collaborative articles feature - knowledge topics published by LinkedIn with insights and perspectives added by the LinkedIn community. It was touted as "Unlocking nearly 10 billion years worth of knowledge to help you tackle everyday work problems".

How did they develop this?

The articles begin as AI-powered conversation starters, developed with their editorial team. Then, using LinkedIn’s Skills Graph, they match each article with relevant member experts who can contribute their lessons, anecdotes, and advice based on their professional experience by inviting them as chosen experts.

Contributors are rewarded for giving their time and experience, they can earn a new Community Top Voice badge in their skill areas (e.g., “Top Marketing Voice”) for adding their insights.

In 2024 all users can contribute their perspectives by hitting the ‘Contribute Expertise’ button when composing a post. By clicking it, you will be taken to a list of collaborative articles based on your niche that you can participate in or read.

Today, many users are frustrated with their LinkedIn feed filled with self-proclaimed experts using pods to promote their "guru-ness" and game the platform's algorithm.

Not sure what a pod is? Here's a good post by LIAM DARMODY who analyzed 3 Linkedin so-called influencers and compared them to the likes of Bill Gates, Ryan Reynolds, and Snoop Dog 🐶! (No I am not in a pod nor even connected with Liam

So where is one to go to find genuine content that they find insightful and engaging content?

I've been spending time in two places. The comments section of organic and useful posts and collaborative articles.

Question: Have you ever reviewed your own LinkedIn activity? You should.

Be prepared to either be surprised, embarrassed, or both.

It's healthy to do this now and then. Clients, employers, co-workers, companies and others are, shouldn't you?

Go to your profile and scroll down to your activity then select "Show all posts →" and the feed will be "All activity". This is where I go when prospecting or doing proper discovery. Here you can select between posts, comments, videos, images, and more. Make sure to select the More menu button to find your reactions.

(Let me know how many posts, comments, shares, or reactions you removed in the comments below ☟. I proudly do a weekly housecleaning of my activity 🙈)

Once you've done this, you can find posts you reacted to or commented on. This is reflective of what interests you content-wise. Now it's time for some deep diving into the comments sections of your curated content.

Collaborative articles are still a work in progress, progress is the operative word as I am seeing improved contributions and perspectives being shared. LinkedIn is doing a good job sprinkling these contributions throughout my usual feed. ( Daniel Roth - I actually would like more of this please 🙏! )

I've been regularly selecting topics to add insight from my experience at different roles in my career, and what I've learned from my group of mentors over the years. I have gradually been reading more useful user-contributed comments and perspectives as time goes on. Let's hope this continues.

Below are some snapshots of contributions I've contributed.

You can go directly to the collaborative article by clicking the snapshot images.

I'm excited to see the continued evolution of collaborative articles where users can find better-curated content that helps them grow.

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