At one point or another, we’ve all been overwhelmed by the numerous amounts of resources circulating throughout LinkedIn. Recommended news for you based on your interests, hundreds upon hundreds of discussions (some of which are annoyingly ‘fluff’ material), non-stop updates shared by your connections – identifying your interests to sift material seems like a waste and all can seem to be a bit of a burden, especially when you are looking for engaging and streamlined knowledge.
Unfortunately the User Experience field is no exception despite the fact that one would assume would be flowing with heated discussions and winning material that appeals to your specific profession. The user experience field is a hot one, yet broad in its description. Professionals from all sectors of business are increasingly shifting to focus more on user experience in their context. Therefore, the need for useful and specific material geared toward their interests is essential. With that, let’s take a look at the top user experience LinkedIn groups that are likely to appeal to you.
The UX Manager – User Experience Professionals Network
As Brandon Schauer states via Adaptive Path, “UX managers come with all sorts of fancy-pants titles. This isn’t about titles. This is about responsibilities.” UX managers wear an important hat and are expected to show results to their company; so, being able to refer to a hub that provides them with a borad range of material to sharpen their skills is crucial to their success.
Why this LinkedIn Group is awesome for you:
- Provide yourself with tips for your team
- Get free training material to make you and your UX team stronger
- Look for new job opportunities for you or any other UXer you may know
- Stay up to date with the hottest trends in user experience so you may successfully define them in the future
The Hungry Entrepreneur – Agile UX
You will find that entrepreneurs in the startup game are fueled by one thing – and it’s not money – it is legacy. Fortunately, the tech world is thriving with hungry entrepreneurs. Now, user experience is highly received as a topic essential to start up success in today’s user-driven tech world. Startup techies are eager to soak up UX information that will best-support their ideas, enhance their ideas, and boost product experience and profit.
Why this LinkedIn Group is awesome for you:
- Learn the best trends that will match your specific type of startup
- Check out cool conferences that might relate to your eco-system
- Explore which structures and approaches in UX might be best for your company
- Find out which UX professionals are for hire who may be of help to you and your business
- Have a small team? Learn how to collaborate successfully with theme
The Web Designer – Smashing Magazine
Consistently concerned with the customer-facing part of the website, web designers are eager to pull together the principles of design to create a website that looks great. What better way to develop skills as a web designer than to share knowledge and designs with one another in order to improve.
Why this LinkedIn Group is awesome for you:
- Learn about new job opportunities in web design
- Find out the hottest tools for designing
- Check out great examples of design among a broad range of topics – logos, resumes, wireframes, infographics
- Download cool designs that you can use for future projects
- Discover secret tricks and tips that can boost you to the top of the web design chain
The UX Designer – UEXdesign – User EXperience Design
Now, you may think that web designers and UX designers are the same thing – not so true. The term “web designer” may be a broad generalization, but the UX design profession has more depth than most think. Because of the differences in goals of web and UX designers, information and resources need to be catered to them in order for them to be powerful in the profession.
Why this LinkedIn Group is awesome for you:
- View how users really behave with specific devices
- Check out new job opportunities for you in the field of user experience
- Learn from case studies of other companies in order to take inspiration and improve a current UX project in which you may be involved
- Freshen up on user experience design principles that may be offered as tips through discussions
The Marketing Manager – Web Managers
In addition to very traditional marketing methods, we are currently seeing many companies focusing on great code, fabulous user interface design and user experience, but little or no storytelling, which is a pivotal piece of the puzzle. This is where they go wrong. Storytelling and branded content is the marketing manager’s work of art and essential to sustaining the value of the company. What better way to learn of the best techniques for successful branding than a unified group on a professional network.
Why this LinkedIn Group is awesome for you:
- Learn crucial Google Analytics tips and tricks
- Download special cheat sheets for SEO and Analytics
- Check out Web marketing indicators that you may start using as metrics for your team
- View the latest in marketing automation that can make your job easier
- Connect with other marketing managers that can provide useful insight from their experiences
The UX Newbie – User Experience
It’s no doubt that the vast amount of resources in user experience and the sub-fields that relate to it can be kind of scary for someone new to UX. Hey, I was once there, and sometimes I feel like with new trends coming out, I still need to learn things from scratch. While multiple LinkedIn groups will serve you with beneficial information, I found that User Experience is the most diverse and useful for those fresh and new in the field.
Why this LinkedIn Group is awesome for you:
- Learn the importance of specific user experience terminology
- View polls and questions that other UX newbies are beginning and asking and apply them to your knowledge
- Provide suggestions for other UXers that are looking for insight
- Collect lists of other UX resources/books that may be of use to your UX learning
- Network with other UX professinals or influencers in order to learn straight from them
Conclusion
So that brings us to the round-up of my favourite UX Groups on LinkedIn. Hope you will find them useful as I have. By all means, this list is not exhaustive as there are many other groups. If you are members of other user experience groups on LinkedIn, please share them with us via the comments system below!
Want to learn more?
Want to get an industry-recognized Course Certificate in UX Design, Design Thinking, UI Design, or another related design topic? Online UX courses from the Interaction Design Foundation can provide you with industry-relevant skills to advance your UX career. For example, Design Thinking, Become a UX Designer from Scratch, Conducting Usability Testing or User Research – Methods and Best Practices are some of the most popular courses. Good luck on your learning journey!
(Lead image: Depositphotos)
