LinkedIn launches new ‘Polls’ feature: Here’s how it works

LinkedIn has launched a new ‘Polls’ feature globally to enable members to quickly tap into the collective knowledge of their professional networks to gain opinion and perspective on topics and conversations that matter today. LinkedIn Polls allows members to reach out to their networks to ask for feedback, share it with others, spark new conversations, and make informed decisions based on the responses, said the company.

Amid the current uncertain environment, recruiters, HR heads, marketers, and company heads are all using the feature in diverse ways to solicit feedback across relevant subjects such as workplace preferences, shopping habits, and key company goals.

How the LinkedIn Polls Feature Works

• Start a new post and click the “Create a Poll” option in the chooser menu.
• Type a question, enter up to four answer options, and select the poll’s duration—between 24 hours and up to two weeks.
• Write up a post to go along with the poll—you can include hashtags to help your poll get more attention.
• Push the poll live to either connections, specific Groups you are part of, or to anyone across the LinkedIn network. By targeting specific Groups with the poll, members can get even more relevant insights.

In India, members and companies such as L&T have currently been using Polls to shape workplace policies, and identify industry trends and hiring trends for the future. And globally too, companies such as Amazon and Hootsuite have been using the Polls feature to understand what is most important to job candidates while choosing an employer or how their audiences are using ads on LinkedIn.

While the poll collects insights from the network, members can easily keep an eye on the activity in real time, such as how many votes have been cast thus far, results for each option, and how much time is left for voting. Only the poll creator can see who voted and what they cast their vote for.

Once the poll closes, all the pertinent information is available in one place: the winning option, the percentage of votes for each option and the total vote count. The feature also allows the surveyors to message voters directly from within the poll, to get deeper insights and to stay in touch with the connections.