I was trying to get some information on using a Cingular Blackberry in India and I decided to post a question in LinkedIn’s Q&A section (login required). Within 24 hours, I got some great responses, information about flight training and a strong sense of appreciation for what LinkedIn is doing at the moment. My best answer is posted below.

If EDGE/GPRS, connectivity should not be an issue as long as you have international permissions provisioned on your account. It will definitely be charged at roaming rates (x cost per MB). Local rates may be less expensive (requiring a different sim). However, the BlackBerry only downloads 8-10kb of data intially (usually the text portion of the email). The large attachment resides on the server until you “retrieve” it. So if you stay away from the attachment download, it is a very inexpensive method to get email.

You will also want to check your carrier’s website for international coverage and roaming agreements in the particular area you are traveling to.

LinkedIn’s workflow is pretty good. They enable closing a question, replying to responders and selecting a response as the best response. This allows you to have a dialog and ask follow up questions and also to provide kudos to thoughtful answers. Email notification is used to inform you of the evolution of your Q&A session. They also found a way to monetize these pages with sponsorship banners across the top of the page. Overall, nicely done.

LinkedIn Q&A

We had a similar feature on Judy’s Book called Expert Shopper that we launched but chose not to invest in. Sticking up a Q&A feature isn’t sufficient - you need to work to ensure that questions get answered quickly. If a user floats for longer than a day without any responses, they lose faith in the feature. On the flip side, if you can guarantee a response, you have an opportunity to create significant positive impact.

Q&A is a powerful addition to a site but it requires an active community or alternatively, a small but dedicated staff who are responsible for answering questions as they arise.