Are LinkedIn followers the same as connections?

LinkedIn is a popular professional networking platform used by over 700 million people worldwide. On LinkedIn, users can connect with other professionals in their industry to build relationships, find jobs, share content, and more. Two of the main ways LinkedIn users can interact with each other are by connecting as contacts and following each other’s activity.

What are LinkedIn connections?

A LinkedIn connection refers to a two-way professional relationship between users on the platform. When you connect with someone on LinkedIn, you are added to each other’s network of professional contacts. Your list of 1st-degree connections includes all the professionals you are directly connected with on LinkedIn.

To connect with someone on LinkedIn, you must send them an invitation to connect which they can choose to accept or ignore. Once a connection is made, you will be able to view each other’s full profiles and actively engage with their content and activity on the platform.

Some key things you can do with your LinkedIn connections include:

• See all their profile details including work history, education, skills, accomplishments etc.
• View connections you have in common
• Follow their posts and activity
• Like and comment on their content
• Message each other through LinkedIn
• Get introduced through a mutual connection
• Share content with each other
• Recommend or endorse them for skills

Connections allow you to fully engage with other members of your professional network on LinkedIn. The number of 1st-degree connections you have reflects the size of your direct professional network through the platform.

What are LinkedIn followers?

Unlike connections which must be mutually agreed upon, LinkedIn also allows users to follow other members without establishing a two-way connection. Following someone simply means you subscribe to their public content and activity updates on your LinkedIn feed.

When you follow another user, you can view all the content they post publicly but you will not be able to see their full profile or actively engage with them. You can follow any profile on LinkedIn as long as your settings allow it, and the other user does not have to approve your follow request.

Here are some key things you can do as a LinkedIn follower:

• See public posts from the user in your feed
• Like or comment on their public posts
• Share their public posts with others
• Be notified when they publish new content

Following allows you to stay updated on a professional’s latest content without needing to connect with them directly. The number of followers a user has reflects their reach and how many people are interested in their public updates.

Connections vs. followers – What’s the difference?

While connections and followers both allow you to engage with other LinkedIn users, there are some key differences between the two:

As you can see, being connected gives you a much deeper relationship and access compared to just following someone. Connections indicate a trusted professional relationship while followers simply shows interest in someone’s public content.

Why have both connections and followers?

LinkedIn allows both connections and followers to give users flexibility in how they engage on the platform. Here are some of the unique benefits of each approach:

Benefits of LinkedIn connections:

• Build an authentic professional network
• Get introduced to new contacts through mutual connections
• Find mentors, clients, partners, employees etc.
• Leverage the full power of LinkedIn for networking and business opportunities
• Stay updated on industry trends and news through your trusted connections
• Get personalized recommendations and referrals

Benefits of LinkedIn followers:

• Stay in the loop with thought leaders and influencers in your industry
• Follow companies and organizations you are interested in
• No need to wait for approval to follow high-profile professionals
• Get content recommendations based on those you follow
• Follow back those who follow you to build awareness
• Analyze followers/following ratio to benchmark social influence

Having both these options gives you the flexibility to connect with those you want in your close professional network while also following industry leaders and personal brands to consume their public content.

Do you need to be connected to follow someone?

No, you do not need to be connected with someone already to follow them on LinkedIn. You can follow any public profile as long as your account settings allow it. Following someone does not require mutual consent like a connection does.

The only exception is if a user has adjusted their profile settings to not allow followers. In that case, you would need to connect with them first in order to see their public posts in your feed. But most users tend to allow followers by default as it helps increase their reach.

Can you follow someone you are already connected with?

Yes, you can follow someone who you are already connected with on LinkedIn. When you connect with another user, by default you also begin following their public posts automatically. But it is possible to be connected with someone but unfollow their updates in your feed.

Following a current connection simply ensures their public posts will again show up in your homepage feed. So you can choose to connect with selective professionals in your industry for networking but follow a wider range of users to consume more content.

Connection requests vs. follow requests

Since connections are mutually agreed upon, the process involves sending connection requests and accepting or ignoring invites from others. Followers, on the other hand, only require you as the follower to subscribe to someone’s updates without any approval needed.

Here are some key differences:

Connection requests:

• To connect, you must send a personalized invitation the other user can accept or ignore
• Your network grows when invitations are accepted
• You receive notifications when you get connection requests
• You can withdraw pending requests if unanswered
• Accepting invites adds contacts to your 1st-degree connections

Follow requests:

• No requests or approval needed, you can just follow any public profile
• Your followers grow when you gain new followers
• You are notified when new users follow you but don’t have to accept
• You cannot withdraw following someone, only unfollow them
• Gaining followers does not add mutual connections

While connecting means actively building your professional network, following simply helps you consume more relevant content.

Who sees your connections vs. followers?

Your LinkedIn connections and followers are visible to others in different ways:

• Your connections can be seen by all LinkedIn members.
• 2nd-degree connections (connections of your connections) can also see your full network.
• Your follower count is public, but individual followers are only visible to you and your 1st-degree connections.
• You can see the full list of people who follow you and people who you follow.

So while the size of your professional network is publicly viewable, your individual followers are a little more private. Both signal social proof when visible to other users.

How to grow connections and followers

To maximize the benefits of LinkedIn, it helps to intentionally grow both your high-value connections and follower base. Here are some tips:

Growing your connections:

• Proactively send personalized invites to contacts
• Share and comment on content published by others
• Join industry networking groups and events
• Actively engage with your network by liking and commenting
• Use TeamLink to connect with colleagues
• Make recommendations and endorsements
• Offer value and help others when you can

Growing your followers:

• Publish engaging content consistently
• Use relevant hashtags and keywords
• Follow influencers and thought leaders in your space
• Promote your LinkedIn posts on other channels
• Comment on content published by others
• Share content your audience would find valuable
• Post regularly and stay active

Focus on quality connections that add mutual value as well as expanding your follower base with great content to maximize LinkedIn results.

Do more followers equal more connections?

Not necessarily. More followers and more connections are often correlated, but a high follower count does not automatically translate into more connections.

Thought leaders and influencers often have a very high follower base but a smaller number of 1st degree connections compared to their followers. Celebrities and public figures also tend to have this dynamic.

On the flip side, some professionals who actively network and collaborate may have a lot of mutually beneficial connections but fewer one-way followers.

So while gaining more quality followers can potentially lead to more connections over time, the two metrics do not have a direct correlation in all cases.

Tips for leveraging followers and connections

Here are some tips on getting the most out of your LinkedIn followers and connections:

Leveraging your followers:

• Post valuable content consistently to keep followers engaged
• Monitor follower engagement and feedback to create better content
• Promote your best performing posts to expand reach
• Share content from other influential profiles to gain followers
• Offer exclusive insights or content just for followers
• Run LinkedIn Live videos and other interactive sessions

Leveraging your connections:

• Actively engage with connections by commenting and liking
• Send personalized messages to build relationships
• Share opportunities and refer connections whenever possible
• Congratulate connections on work anniversaries and achievements
• Offer help, advice and mentorship to your network
• Introduce connections to each other for mutual benefit

Focus on nurturing your network and providing value to transform followers into active professional relationships over time.

Conclusion

While LinkedIn followers and connections both help you engage with other professionals, they serve different purposes. Followers are one-way relationships focused on consuming content while connections represent mutually beneficial professional networking.

Connections give you full access to interact with other users while followers simply allow you to stay updated on public posts. Building quality connections takes effort and outreach but gaining followers can organically enhance your audience and reach.

To get the full value from LinkedIn, utilize your followers and connections strategically. Share great content to inform your followers while actively managing your professional network of trusted contacts. With the right balance, you can leverage LinkedIn effectively for your career and business goals.