This started out as an experiment, but the end result was both interesting and exciting. The social network site Linkedin has a feature called polls. I was thinking of experimenting with it and see what it yields. Finally, I did put up a poll on Sunday and forwarded it to my contacts. The speed of response surprised me. However, the more interesting part is the kind of insights Linkedin gives using its data. The value proposition is also very strong for all participants because what is available to the originator of the poll is also available to everyone else who participates. All this is free! The question that I had put up was as follows: I put this up on Sunday, 19th April, and I have already received 119 responses. 14 of them also took the trouble of putting in their views as comments The poll results are provided with various cuts on the respondents (job title, company size, job function, gender and age). This implies that should one be able to actually get large samples to respond a very rich analytics is also available. What’s more all this is available to every participant on the poll. For instance, in the above poll, the responses were fairly evenly spread across 4 options, but when you look at the same information through the age prism, clearly the younger people are more optimistic. And one can see that across professions there is no consensus and the differences in opinion are quite striking. This is a pretty handy tool and offers several possibilities if handled carefully. You could try this out. And, you could participate in the above poll by clicking on http://polls.linkedin.com/poll-results/33591/nsaiy

1. How much growth to expect in the
Indian Economy
– An opinion poll
This started out as an experiment, but the end result was
both interesting and exciting. The social network site
Linkedin has a feature called polls. I was thinking of
experimenting with it and see what it yields. Finally, I did
put up a poll on Sunday and forwarded it to my contacts.
The speed of response surprised me. However, the more
interesting part is the kind of insights Linkedin gives using
its data. The value proposition is also very strong for all
participants because what is available to the originator of
the poll is also available to everyone else who
participates.
All this is free!
The question that I had put up was as follows:
I put this up on Sunday, 19th April, and I have already
received 119 responses. 14 of them also took the trouble
of putting in their views as comments

2. The poll results are provided with various cuts on the
respondents (job title, company size, job function, gender
and age). This implies that should one be able to actually
get large samples to respond a very rich analytics is also
available. What’s more all this is available to every
participant on the poll.
For instance, in the above poll, the responses were fairly
evenly spread across 4 options, but when you look at the
same information through the age prism, clearly the
younger people are more optimistic.
And one can see that across professions there is no
consensus and the differences in opinion are quite
striking.

3. This is a pretty handy tool and offers several possibilities
if handled carefully. You could try this out.
And, you could participate in the above poll by clicking on
http://polls.linkedin.com/poll-results/33591/nsaiy