1,000 LinkedIn connections milestone

Just a few minutes ago, I reached a small milestone. 1,000 LinkedIn connections. While I never set out on a quest to hit a four-figure number of connections, I do think it is interesting that somehow I know 1,000 business professionals.

Or at least I think I do.

I used to be proud of how many business cards I would amass, particularly after visiting a trade show or conference. Admittedly, the value of most of those was to prop up my wiggling table at a restaurant, but it was still neat to have a bunch of those cards to show that "yes, I did achieve something. I met all these people".

Or did I?

As I looked over my 1,000 connections, there are people there that have been part of my network for over 10 years, and there are those I just met this morning. There are also those that have reached out to me based on my leadership roles, And then there are recruiters that have found me via search or through LinkedIn networking. They have found me both when I have been looking to hire people, or looking for a new position myself. Some of these people I have met personally, some I only know through the "Josef, please add me to your LinkedIn network" emails.

So while all of these 1,000 people are "LinkedIn First Degree" connections, within that group I suppose I have my own second-level triage of contact. I think the ratio is something like this:

• Group 1: 10% - personal relationship with, have met in person more than 10 times in the past 24 months
• Group 2: 30% - personal relationship with, have e met in person less than 10 times in the past 24 months
• Group 3: 40% - have never met personally, but were likely referred by someone in one of the other two categories during the past 24 months
• Group 4: 20% - I haven't engaged with them during the past 12 months.

This pattern might be the same for others, and I would imagine it's the same across non-business networks like FB. But based on this, I also know that I am probably not delivering - nor receiving - much value from Groups 3 and 4, and essentially they are non-valuable connections. I would hate for one of my Group 2 connections, for example, try to use me as a proxy to get introduced to a Group 4 connection, as including me in a chain would be only one small step above the fully unqualified connection request.

If I, then, revisit my 1,000 connections in light of this, it essentially means I have 400 of those connections that are invested connections. There has been some value exchange - even if just a physical handshake or zoom call for post-Covid 19 times - that makes those more important. Of course, what I want to do is to move some of the Group 3 connections to Group 2 connections (Zoom, coffee, anyone?), and maybe even some of the Group 4 connections to Group 2 connections. Then, the ROI of my 1,000 connections begins to materialize. It would be great if LinkedIn had some way for me to, in real-time, triage my connections so that I know at any given time where they all fall, and what I need to do to prevent them from falling into Group 4. Sort of a CRM for LinkedIn. Maybe it already exists and I don't know about it.

So here I sit, now with a new task on my hands, which is to create value out of my new milestone. It's a bit of an overwhelming task, but I also think it will reap tremendous rewards. After all, I am always looking for a new opportunity, so it will help me there, but beyond that, paying it forward is part of my DNA. And if I truly want to leverage my network for the benefit of others, I have to make sure it is as healthy as it can be.

Besides, connections can't prop up my wobbly table anyway...