On November 28, 2008, Mark Walls sat down at his computer and created a group on LinkedIn which would eventually come to be known as the Work Comp Analysis Group. Mark did not know it that day, but he was opening an entirely new front in the information revolution that has shaped our industry over the last decade or so.
An unintended pioneer in social media and workers’ compensation, Walls has built the group to well over 16,000 people in the space of less than 4 years. As someone with a bit of experience managing and developing online information systems, I can tell you this was no small task. It takes untold hours of work and effort to make something like this happen. A LinkedIn group does not grow if the content is not managed, fresh, and vital to the topic at hand (my own blog posts notwithstanding). He has managed those tasks extremely well.
We were very happy to oblige 2 years ago when Walls was looking to develop an online resource site to support his group. We partnered with him to develop and host www.workcompanalysisgroup.com. We have been very pleased to be just a very small part of the progress that the WCAG has seen.
This week Mark sent a message announcing that the group is less than 200 shy of hitting the 17,000 member mark. We are all wondering if the group can hit that level before the national conference in Las Vegas in November. I'm betting it can – and it will.
I’d certainly like to see it happen. If you are a LinkedIn member you can join the WCAG here today.
If you are not yet a member of LinkedIn.com, I highly recommend you join. Of all the social media websites, I find it is the best for communicating with business people who share your interests and challenges. There are several good groups to consider. One of those is a group we co-manage on LinkedIn called the Workers’ Compensation Roundtable. You can get a list of other good options by searching the group's area for “workers' compensation”.
Join the Work Comp Analysis Group today. It is a well run group offering great discussions and thought provoking dialogue. After all, almost 17,000 people can't be wrong.