LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform, with over 810 million members globally as of January 2022. Many professionals use LinkedIn to connect with others in their industry, find job opportunities, promote their business, and more. One of the core features of LinkedIn is the ability to connect with other members by sending connection requests. But do the number of connections someone has actually matter? Let’s explore this question further.
Do More Connections Equal More Opportunities?
On the surface, it seems logical that having more connections on LinkedIn could lead to more opportunities. After all, the bigger your network, the more people you can potentially reach out to about job openings, business deals, partnerships, and other possibilities. However, the quality and strength of your connections matters more than pure quantity. Simply amassing connections with people you barely know is unlikely to lead to meaningful opportunities. But nurturing genuine relationships within your network can pay dividends when you need advice, referrals, insights, or introductions.
Here are a few key points on why the quality of your connections matters more than the quantity:
- Your closest connections are more likely to respond when you reach out and go the extra mile to help you.
- Meaningful relationships are built over time through authentic interactions, not one-off connection requests.
- Your network is more powerful when it consists of connections who truly know, like, and trust you.
- Weak ties in your network are less motivated to actively assist you or promote your interests.
- Strangers are unlikely to put their reputation on the line to recommend you for opportunities.
So while having 500+ connections looks impressive at first glance, it probably won’t move the needle if they barely know you. Focus on nurturing your closest, most trusted connections first and foremost.
Are Connections Just Vanity Metrics?
For some LinkedIn users, the number of connections they have seems to be just another vanity metric alongside profile views, post likes, and followers. However, comparing the size of your network to others can lead to unhealthy social media behaviors. If you obsess over how many connections you have, you may be tempted to send spammy connection requests to people you barely know. This type of behavior diminishes the user experience on LinkedIn.
Instead of fixating on your connection count, consider the following perspectives:
- Quality connections who engage with your content and offers are more impactful than vaguely familiar connections.
- A subset of deeply trusted connections is more valuable than thousands of superficial connections.
- Curate your network to align with your professional goals and interests.
- Be selective about who you connect with instead of accepting every request.
- Regularly prune connections that no longer serve you.
The takeaway is that you should not judge your LinkedIn experience or professional opportunities solely based on the number of connections you have. There are many other meaningful metrics like engagement, recommendations, profile visits from target employers, and successful new business generated from LinkedIn.
Does Having Fewer Connections Limit Your Visibility?
If you only have around 150 connections on LinkedIn, does that reduce your visibility and limit your career potential? Not necessarily. You can still derive substantial value from LinkedIn and be very successful with under 500 connections. Here are some tips on maximizing your LinkedIn presence and opportunities with a smaller network:
- Complete your profile 100% to appear in more search results.
- Join targeted LinkedIn Groups in your industry to expand your reach.
- Follow and engage with relevant companies to get on their radar.
- Ask satisfied clients, employers, partners for recommendations.
- Publish regular posts and articles to boost your professional brand.
- Engage with other posts via likes, comments, and shares.
- Participate in discussions and ask/answer relevant questions.
The common thread is participating actively instead of passively waiting for connections and opportunities. Curate your connections carefully, engage authentically, and provide value to your niche. Smaller networks can deliver results through selectivity and engagement.
Should You Accept Every Connection Request?
When you receive a new connection request on LinkedIn, should you accept it automatically? That depends on your goals and preferences for your network. Here are some factors to consider:
- Will this person add diversity and value to my network based on their experience and expertise?
- Do I already know this person either personally or professionally?
- Is this someone I could mutually benefit from collaborating or associating with?
- Do we share any common connections, groups, or interests?
- Is their request genuinely written or do they seem to spam connect?
My recommendation would be to thoughtfully evaluate each request before accepting. Decline requests from people you have no previous interaction with and who provide no custom message. This maintains the quality of your connections. However, if someone you know or in your industry sends a thoughtful request, go ahead and accept to widen your trusted network. But be selective – curate don’t accumulate.
Recommended Strategies for Accepting Connections
Here are some best practices around accepting LinkedIn connection requests:
- Accept requests from people you know and trust in real life.
- Accept requests from industry colleagues you’ve met at events, conferences, etc.
- Accept requests from people who provide a customized message.
- Politely ignore requests that seem spammy or soliciting.
- Feel free to connect if you have mutual connections or groups.
- It’s OK to wait to accept requests from distant connections.
- You can message new connections to start a dialogue.
The bottom line is that you should accept connection requests selectively rather than automatically to maintain a purposeful network. But when in doubt, it never hurts to connect and then evaluate the relationship over time.
How Can You Proactively Grow Your Network?
While sending and accepting connection requests is one way to grow your LinkedIn network, here are several other proactive tactics to consider:
- Customize connection requests – Personalize your requests with a note so they stand out.
- Recommend connections – Identify shared connections and request an introduction.
- Join LinkedIn groups – Become an active member in your industry’s groups.
- Follow companies – Follow relevant brands and engage with their updates.
- Comment on posts – Provide thoughtful comments to stand out.
- Offer value – Share advice, articles, and resources without expecting anything.
- Attend events – Meet people in real life at conferences, meetups, etc.
- Send InMail – Respectfully reach out to connections who interest you.
The key is to engage authentically instead of simply spraying connection invites. Demonstrating your expertise and building rapport first is key. Move relationships from the digital to real world whenever possible.
How Can You Maintain Meaningful Relationships?
Once you’ve made a new connection, you’ll get the most value from the relationship by maintaining it over time. Here are some tips:
- Learn about their interests, expertise, goals, and needs.
- Congratulate them on major accomplishments and milestones.
- Share or comment on their posts and articles.
- Respond promptly, authentically, and add value when they contact you.
- Introduce them to others in your network who could help them.
- Collaborate on projects, content, events, or initiatives when possible.
- Catch up in person or via phone/video chat periodically.
- Provide recommendations for their work and character.
- Continue to nurture the relationship on an ongoing basis.
Essentially, treat your LinkedIn connections like real professional relationships, not just digital contacts. This level of care leads to a network that will actively support your goals and opportunities.
Should You Prune Your Connections Periodically?
As your LinkedIn network evolves over months and years, it’s wise to periodically review your connections and prune contacts who no longer serve you. Reasons you may want to remove and prune some connections:
- The contact does not engage with any of your LinkedIn activity
- You have changed industries or professional directions
- The connection is promoting irrelevant opportunities
- You do not know the person on a professional level
- The contact has changed roles or industries unexpectedly
- Your relationship with the contact has deteriorated
- You want to focus your network more selectively
That said, resist the urge to bulk remove connections without consideration. Be selective in your pruning:
- Review your connections periodically, like annually.
- Consider removing contacts you have little engagement with.
- Keep contacts who still align with your goals.
- You can hide contacts rather than fully removing.
- Focus on growing more meaningful relationships.
- Continue to expand your network strategically over time.
Although maintaining a focused network takes more effort, it is worth it long-term. The quality of your connections matters most.
Should You Buy LinkedIn Connections or Followers?
Some services will offer to sell you LinkedIn connections or followers for a fee, but this is risky:
- It violates LinkedIn’s terms of service and risks account suspension.
- These are often fake bot accounts that LinkedIn will remove.
- Purchased followers do not engage or add value.
- It can harm your reputation if discovered.
- You miss the opportunity to network authentically.
- Meaningful relationships take time to build.
Instead of wasting money on fake LinkedIn connections, invest that time and money into:
- Improving your LinkedIn profile and content.
- Engaging sincerely with your target audience.
- Providing value to your niche without expecting anything.
- Building genuine relationships on and offline.
- Being patient. Quality connections develop over time.
There are no shortcuts when building an impactful professional network. Focus on quality over quantity in your LinkedIn connections.
Conclusion
The number of LinkedIn connections you have is secondary to the authenticity and quality of those relationships. While connecting with many relevant professionals has some benefits, you get the most value from nurturing genuine bonds over time. Avoid treating connections as just a vanity metric or checklist to mark off. Instead, be selective in accepting requests, proactively network with care, engage meaningfully with new contacts, and prune stale connections when appropriate. This thoughtful relationship building will serve your career goals while also making LinkedIn a warmer community.