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Out on a LIMSThe Blog for People Who Risk Life and LIMS on a Daily Basis

Gone from LinkedIn LIMS/LI Group and Others

Volume IIEntry 83 of 113 in 20162 min read6 comments ↓

Written by Gloria Metrick on . Published as written. It may not reflect how these systems work today.

Overall, I'm cleaning-out my LinkedIn groups to only those that I find useful, either by the great information they give or because I feel some kind of purpose in belonging to them. As part of my Fall "back to business" initiative, I'm in a "declutter my world" mode and this is one of the many results.

I was looking at the LinkedIn LIMS/Laboratory Informatics group, as I looked at every LinkedIn group that I belong to. When I had started the LinkedIn LIMS/Laboratory Informatics group a number of years ago I had turned it into, what was at the time, the largest such group for our industry in LinkedIn. Several years ago, I turned the group over to others who had an interest in managing and running it. I just thought that it was taking too much of my time away from my business development and chargeable work, and that I needed to move on. I made a plan to make sure that I "let go" and let them manage it as they saw fit, putting their own ideas forth, and was doing a fair job of it.

Since then, I've remained with the group and tried to be active to support it. However, in doing that, I have come to realize that I hadn't "let go" 100%, after all. I found myself still rooting for the group, hoping it could become something that I wanted it to be, and realized I still had emotional ties to it.

Yesterday, as part of my effort to force myself to focus on actual work that relates to my business AND to totally "let go" and let the group do its thing without me, I left the group.

I Know You Didn't Notice
I'm not telling you this because you'll notice that I'm gone. I don't pretend that I was doing much for the group that you'd notice my absence. However, having started the group, most people who know me will assume that I'm still in there.

Gloria Metrick
GeoMetrick Enterprises
http://www.GeoMetrick.com/

The conversation

6 comments from 3 people, September 15 to September 16, 2016. Gloria replied 2 times.

  1. Terry Iorns

    Gloria,
    I am sure I speak for most members in thanking you for your efforts in starting and managing the group and offering your words of wisdom and experience. I hope you will find a way to come back.
    Terry

  2. Gloria MetrickAuthor

    Thank you, Terry. While I know you don't need me there looking over people's shoulders, I do feel that I was kept as welcome in the group. I appreciate all the work you've been putting into it in these years past the handover. Keep up the good work!

  3. John H. Jones

    I like that idea of removing clutter. For my own case, I hardly know where to begin. I started a website pretty much for myself that aggregates information that I am interested in into one database using various api's and I have automated it but I moderate the content going in as well so that I avoid inadvertent spam or irrelevant content. This does not remove information but it organizes it into a form that works for me and the folks who have similar interests. A possible way to avoid clutter but it is a work in progress.

  4. John H. Jones

    BTW, it seems like sites that focus on LIMS/LI are disappearing. I have my own sites but have had those for years but I really would like some other sites I can go to for LIMS/LI that actually have some content rather than marketing junk. Do you know of any other than mine and yours?

  5. Gloria MetrickAuthor

    For both interactive access and news, I don't know if you've run across Artur Markus' Lab Automations, but he's trying to get people involved to build that out. The link is: https://labautomations.com/

    That is the only one that currently comes to-mind.

  6. Thomas Vaughan

    I don't if I can really reply about LIMS/LI since I am somewhat moving out of that space.

    About 6 months ago I did an analysis of LinkedIn groups I belong to and found a wide range of behaviors. Some groups hadn't had activity it years. One very large group had 100+ postings per month but MAYBE one response per month - nobody was paying any attention to what anybody was writing.

    Groups supporting LOCAL organizations were generally terrible - the only activity, if any, was announcing events. One such LinkedIn group belonging to a local ("Massachusetts" specific) society had no activity whatsoever in its history except one post I put in asking if anybody was there. The organization itself was very active with local events packed with paying attendees (my conclusion: people ignore online activity if they can meet face to face or personally email).

    A FEW groups were busy and active with perhaps several new questions a week - some of these generated dozens of technical responses.

    The LIMS/LI group is not especially busy (in terms of posts/member) but is highly "active" (with half of posts having a meaningful reply).

    In the end I dropped 25% groups, kept 25% as useful, and took no action (did not drop) about 50% just staying in to indicate support (or perhaps indicate membership in the organization if someone) checks my profile even though the LinkedIn group isn't useful.

    I think social media is a mixed blessing. Perhaps best for very-interested people seperated by great distances. I was at an ISPE meeting last night and got far more interaction for less effort than it took to write this post.

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