As I write, there are 1,055 LinkedIn groups with the keyword Excel. Not all of them are about software. Some exist to “support members to learn, grow, and excel.” So, I refined the search to include groups only in English. There are still 939 of those, but with some still learning, growing, and excelling. Moving then to Excel, English, and networking, there are 243 (and the learners are not yet gone). Using Excel, English, and Professional Group, it’s 409 groups, no learners, but also not the largest Excel group, either. Making it Microsoft Excel limits the list down to a mere 41.
Of the 939, the largest is Microsoft Excel Users with 16,677 members, and the smallest is the MS Pivot Table Discussion Group with a mere 8.
Which of these groups are worth writing about? I’m in Daniel Ferry’s Excel Hero group, but it’s listed three pages in, just approaching 2000 members. Dick is, too. What groups are you in, and why?
…mrt
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I’m in Excel Blackbelts and MathCad and Excel structural design.
The structural design one is obviously a bit specialised, but the Excel Blackbelts would be worth following, if I had the time.
I got too enthusiastic when I just discovered those Linked In groups :-) . This is my list:
Excel & Access Experts
Excel and VBA Users
Excel Blackbelts
Excel Developers
Excel Enthusiasts
Excel Experts
Excel for Finance ProfessionalsSUBGROUP
Excel Gurus
Excel Hero
ExcelKings
Microsoft Excel MVPs
Microsoft Office en VBA Nederland
MS Excel and VBA macros
The Directory of Excel Experts
Visual Basic for Applications Experts
I find the interface for following discussions on Linked In is terrible, so I harldy participate there. Waste of time.
Like JKP, I got a bit keen and am now in:
Excel & Vba Professionals
Excel and VBA Users
Excel Blackbelts
Excel Developers
Excel Hero
Excel Spreadsheet Authors
Microsoft Office-Excel, Word, Powerpoint & Outlook
MS Excel and VBA macros
VBA Excel Acess Macro
The interface is such that you only get updates to specific threads when you’ve posted to the thread! Even if you click follow.
I’m also fed up with a: People asking for you to do their work and b: Un-disclosed cross postings
So like JKP I am on the verge of dumping them…
VBA Hero a subgroup of Excel Hero
Well I belong loads of them but I don’t participate much. I was actually invited to join some of them and I just kinda thought ‘why not?’ at the time.
In terms of which ones are worth writing about? They’re all pretty naff really, so none!
The interface is far from suitable for posting code. The groups aren’t moderated like forums are so there is a lot of petty bickering.
Excel Hero probably is probably the better choice but there is one guy in particular there that is fiercely competitive and will contradict almost anything you say just to impress; or he will take your solution and make pedantic meagre improvements and claim all the glory. And there’s no avoiding him; he will post in just about every topic. Put me off…
Which groups are worth writing about? In my opinion, none.
The discussion interface lacks basic features of most other forums. It feels like an afterthought. Most of the traffic consists of (a) “google questions”, or (b) people (or bots) spamming their latest blog article or how-to video.
For a while I tried to triage the emails, but it’s an uphill battle. It doesn’t stop and nobody really cares.
You’ll have far better quality interactions and insights from the comments feed of this blog than from any of the linked-in groups I’ve dabbled with. I’ve only been following this blog for a couple of years, but now and then an old thread gets bumped, often uncovering timely gold.
@ jon: do you mean name beginning w/ “r” and ending w/ “o”?
haha