• January 16, 2009

LinkedIn has launched a new polling feature that lets users turn other members into focus groups.

"The idea of allowing you to quickly and cost-effectively gather input and insight from the right group of people, is what is behind the new targeted LinkedIn Polls product that we're launching today," stated a post on the company's blog Thursday.

As part of its Apps platform, the service lets members create polls, target it to a specific professional audience, and then analyze the results. Poll results can be broken down by demographic factors to highlight variables such as company sizoe, job title, age or gender affect how people respond to questions.

Polling within a member's own LinkedIn network is free, but the company charges a minimum of $50 to target a poll to a specific group of professionals. Archived polls can be accessed from a My Polls page.--Mark Walsh