LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 800 million users worldwide. One of the key features of LinkedIn is the ability to connect with other professionals in your industry or location. When you connect with someone on LinkedIn, you have the option to sync your contacts, which allows LinkedIn to access your email and other contacts from services like Gmail or Outlook. This automatically sends connection requests to people in your contact lists who also use LinkedIn. While syncing contacts can help you quickly expand your network, there are also some potential downsides to consider. In this article, we’ll explore the pros and cons of syncing your contacts on LinkedIn to help you decide if it’s the right choice for you.
Pros of Syncing Contacts on LinkedIn
Here are some of the potential benefits of syncing your email and other contacts with LinkedIn:
Rapidly Grow Your Network
The main advantage of syncing your contacts is that it provides an easy way to quickly expand your LinkedIn connections. Rather than manually searching for and sending connection requests to each contact one-by-one, syncing allows you to automatically connect with everyone in your address book who is also on LinkedIn. This can be especially helpful when you’re new to LinkedIn and looking to build up your network.
Stay Connected With Important Contacts
Syncing your contacts ensures you don’t lose touch with important professional connections from your email and other contact lists. For example, if you have previously worked with someone or met them at an industry event, but haven’t connected on LinkedIn, the sync will send them a request ensuring you stay up-to-date.
Discover New Contacts
You may be surprised to find out some of your existing contacts are LinkedIn users you didn’t realize. Syncing allows you to uncover these new connections that can enhance your network.
Improves Connection Response Rate
When connection requests come directly from LinkedIn rather than individual users, the response rate is often higher. People seem more inclined to accept requests from LinkedIn rather than unknown users.
Saves You Time
Manually adding each of your contacts to LinkedIn can be extremely time-consuming. Syncing automates the process so you can focus on other tasks. Rather than spending hours searching for and inviting connections, it only takes a couple clicks to sync your contacts.
Cons of Syncing Contacts on LinkedIn
While there are benefits to syncing your contacts, there are also some potential drawbacks:
Overshares Your Information
When you connect your address book to LinkedIn, you’re sharing your entire contact list with the company. For some, this raises privacy concerns, especially if your contacts include personal connections outside of your professional network. Always be sure to use discretion when connecting personal contacts on LinkedIn.
Spam Your Contacts
If you have a large contact list, syncing can potentially spam contacts with connection invitations. This runs the risk of annoying your connections with unwanted requests. It’s best to only sync if you’re comfortable with the majority of your contacts receiving invitations.
Connections Aren’t Always Reciprocrated
Just because someone is in your contacts doesn’t mean they will necessarily want to connect on LinkedIn. Your response rate will vary. Don’t expect syncing to provide guaranteed two-way connections in all cases.
Security and Privacy Concerns
Giving any app access to your contacts involves sharing private data. While LinkedIn has security measures in place, any time you provide external access to your contact info, there is some risk involved.
Limits Ability to Customize Invitations
With syncing, you lose the ability to personalize connection requests and messages. All invitations will be generic from LinkedIn. Without customization, your acceptance rate may be lower.
Who Should Sync Contacts on LinkedIn?
While both the pros and cons make valid points, some users are better suited for syncing contacts than others:
Those New to LinkedIn
When creating a new LinkedIn profile with no connections, syncing can jumpstart your network and provide that initial boost. It’s an easy way for newcomers to quickly start establishing connections.
Active Networkers
For those actively trying to grow their network, regularly engaging new connections, syncing is an efficient tool to expand your reach. Just be sure all contacts are relevant to avoid spamming.
Returning Users
If you’re reactivating a dormant LinkedIn account, syncing contacts is an excellent way to rediscover old connections and rebuild your network after time away.
Users With Large Contact Lists
The more contacts you have, the greater potential value from syncing. It allows busy professionals with expansive networks to connect without investing huge amounts of time sending individual invites.
Those Comfortable With Some Rejected Invitations
To make the most of syncing, you’ll have to be okay with some contacts declining requests. As long as you’re not bothered by a few rejections, the benefits outweigh the costs.
Best Practices for Syncing Contacts
If you decide syncing your contacts is right for you, here are some tips to optimize the experience:
Review Privacy Settings
Take time to review LinkedIn’s privacy policy and edit your sharing preferences. Adjust settings like your profile visibility and how your name appears in notifications.
Be Selective if Possible
If your address book allows it, only sync your most important, professional contacts. Avoid spamming acquaintances with irrelevant invites.
Customize Your Invitation Message
While you can’t customize each request, you can change the default sync invitation message to be more personal.
Follow Up on Accepted Invitations
Don’t just connect and forget. Follow up with accepted connections to expand relationships.
Monitor Your Contact List
Periodically review your contacts to remove those no longer relevant and identify any gaps in your network.
Here is an example of how you could present pros and cons in a table:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Rapidly grow your network | Overshares your information |
| Stay connected with important contacts | Spam your contacts |
| Discover new contacts | Connections may not reciprocate |
| Improves connection response rate | Security and privacy concerns |
| Saves you time | Limits ability to customize invitations |
Conclusion
Syncing your email and external contacts with LinkedIn can be a quick way to expand your professional network on the platform. However, it also comes with risks like sharing your private data and spamming your connections with unwanted invites. Overall, syncing tends to provide the most value to new LinkedIn users, active networkers, and those with large contact lists who are comfortable with some rejections. If you do decide to sync your contacts, be sure to follow best practices around privacy, customization, and relationship management. With the right approach, syncing can take your LinkedIn networking to the next level, but it’s not necessarily the right choice for every user. Consider both the pros and cons carefully before linking your contacts.
