LinkedIn Groups: Join one … form one

"It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end." -- Ursula K. LeGuin
This will be my last post for a couple of weeks. I am going on vacation. Here is today’s contribution.

A LinkedIn feature that can help you connect with colleagues in your field of interest is Groups. Finding the right group to join can require some experimentation. Some groups seem to be purely commercial. Others are highly specific.

Here by way of example is a group I chose to join …

Heavy Oil
Owner: Nestor A Hernandez Estevez 340 members Share
This professional group is focused on networking and information sharing about the Heavy Oil industry: research, exploration, reservoir engineering, production, transport, refining, upgrading, marketing and so on.
The Resources of Heavy oil in the world are more than twice of those conventional light crude oil. Heavy oil is different, and as a result of that, many technologies and services used for conventional oil face limitations with these highly viscous oils.

Start by logging into your LinkedIn account. Click “Groups” at the top of the page. Then enter a keyword that might be associated with a group you would be interested in joining. Some keywords to try …

Petro
Refining
Catalysis
Hydrocarbon

Browse the resulting descriptions to pick out a group you would like to join, and click “Join.”

At some point, you might want to start your own group. Doing so can help you find colleagues researching a topic that is not yet covered by an existing group.

Anyone LinkedIn member can start a group. The tricky part is getting enough people to join the group to make it worth you while. You might start by inviting all the people you know to join the group. Then encourage them to invite people they know.

And be sure to invite me …

Invite me to be your LinkedIn colleague. Visit my LinkedIn profile at: www.linkedin.com/in/jeansteinhardtresearch