The Humble Brag on LinkedIn

When I opened my LinkedIn account back in 2004, I was excited about having a place where I could connect professionally with others. And when I achieved the "500+ connections" tier, I felt quite accomplished.

These days, I am seeing posts on LinkedIn from those who have reached their connection limit. It's a bit of a humble brag; "Sorry...wish I could connect with you...but I have already connected with 30,000 people!" Apparently, once that happens, they are unable to add new connections to their LinkedIn community.

I have nowhere near that number of first degree connections. By choice.

I am truly perplexed....when you have connected with 30,000 people, I cannot imagine that they all add value to help achieve your professional goals? And once that happens, if someone who would be a truly valuable connection wants to connect, the door is closed; you cannot allow them in.

LinkedIn, the corporate entity, sends a confusing message. It vacillates between sending suggestions about who I should connect with, and encouraging me not to connect with those I do not know.

I decided long ago to connect with people who are in my field of direct and digital marketing. And since I recruit exclusively within the United States, I ignore connection requests from around the world. And I remove connections, if I see they have left my industry, retired, or are no longer professionally relevant. Will you find that some of my connections are outside of these limited parameters? Yes. I'm not going to ignore my nephew's connection request. Or insult a client who has moved to the UK. I'll accept the invitation of my neighbor's daughter, who is starting out in the professional world. I'm human, after all.

But by and large, I am intentional about cultivating a LinkedIn community of connections that are meaningful to me. I'm unconvinced that "reaching the connection limit" is a desirable goal.