Psst!! Have you ever bean Flagged? Did you know it could get you SWAMed?

I was introducing an author in a group yesterday when the group manager told me "they've been FLAGGED" by LinkedIn and by several group members.

Not knowing what this meant and expecting it must be a bad thing, like in football when you hit someone from behind, I looked it up. Googled it in fact. What I discovered was absolutely shocking. I'm suprized it hasn't happened to me. Or maybe it has and I just didn't know it.

Being FLAGGED is a very bad thing. The impact can be devastating. So much so I hesitate to even share what it is. In the hands of the nasty people of the LinkedIn world it becomes a weapon of measurable force from which there is little or no defence.

BARRY NEIGHBORS who is a long time member and has been Flagged, explained ...."This LinkedIn weapon is located in the Group Discussions of LinkedIn.". .... and he goes on to illustrate how powerful this weapon is and explain how anyone can flag a discussion entry for being a “promotion”, or a “job”, or for being “inappropriate”. 

Once you are flagged, your submissions of content are held in limbo across all of your groups unless and until a group manager authorizes it which could be never especially if the person who formed the group has abandoned it.

So there you go my fine feathered friends. On LinkedIn, if you don't like what you read or the person writing it you don't flip them the bird, you flash them the FLAG!

Patricia Weber Your introvert inspirer: author, speaker, blogger.

Had her say about this a couple of years ago telling us ..."LinkedIn’s help center seemed specifically vague with any clues to why the status was assigned." and she did just as I have to discover...

"A quick Internet search and there was a post by blogger, Jen Dewar, who used the term SWAM, “site wide auto moderation” in a post on her blog, “Help! I’ve been SWAM’d on LinkedIn!”

Man I hope this doesn't get me SWAMed.

But I think everyone should know about this stuff. Heck from my experience a person could get SWAMed for poor spelling or grammar. And that happens to me a lot.

Jen Dewar was congratulated by LinkedIn for having one of the top 1% most viewed profiles back in 2012 and LinkedIn reached out to her a couple of months later to see if they could use her in their marketing and PR materials as an example of how to properly use LinkedIn… She didn’t think LinkedIn would do something so horrible to her with those kind of credentials. so ...

Holy smokes!! What would they do to me?? What could they do to you??

But on the bright side if you have the urge to be nasty and don't care what kind of trouble you cause, unlike in football, the fine art of Flagging is open to all players, group moderators and even the fans.

To misquote Dr. Seuss in the Cat in the Hat "there is all kinds of fun we could have that is funny.." and in the art of war and business this could help you eliminate the competition even if they are bigger, stronger and outnumber you ten to one.

So let me ask you, have you ever been a flagger or a flagee? Don't be shy. Inquiring minds need to know.

I'm Bob Polan. My business is helping you build yours through Five Star Reputation Marketing. https://fivestarreputationmarketing.ca/about-us/