I've been on LinkedIn since early 2004, when I started using it to connect with people in Vancouver. At that time I was planning a reconnaissance trip to the city, ahead of emigrating from the UK. LinkedIn put me in touch with lots of good people and I went on to meet a bunch of them during my visit. The contacts I made were very very helpful and a number have become the closest of my Canadian Friends, since we arrived as permanent residents in the summer of 2005.
My use of LinkedIn was for the longest time unchanged. I believed that it was a numbers game and the more connections you had the more likely you were to get a few that were of value. Of course that statement 'of value' is the interesting point. What does it mean? My general approach to networking has always been to look for what I can offer my network, rather than what I can take from it. What is 'of value' changes over time and although LinkedIn was helpful in the building stages of my network, especially in Vancouver - I had for a few months been rethinking my approach.
My 'policy' so to speak was to be generous in who I connected with, i.e. I didn't really mind if I knew them or not. Some I had brief email discussions with, but generally I didn't. Apart from a mass invite activity I did in 2004/2005 I've only actually invited people recently that I'd met, so change was on the cards. As LinkedIn added to their offering I started following a feed of my network's activity. Increasingly this has become frustrating.
Most of the updates etc I was reading came from people that quite honestly, I didn't really know. Consequently they were of little interest. What would be of interest would be a feed from people I did really know. That feed I would like to read.
So without pretending I have some highly intellectual plan I decided to reduce my LinkedIn network to what I thought of as connections which I have some kind of connection with. LinkedIn of course is a bit clunky when it comes to removing contacts, but I've finally finished my first pass. Below are the Before/After numbers:
Measure Before After Reduction
Connections 1,615 362 78%
2 Degrees away 489,100 126,800 74%
3 Degrees away 8,230,600 5,150,500 37%
Total contactable 8,721,300 5,277,700 29%
It's interesting to note that the more extended the network, the less impact this has had. Is this the right strategy going forward? Time will tell, but for now it feels better and just maybe I can start looking at my connections and taking more of interest in what they are all up to.
Note: Due to the number of connections I removed, it's entirely possible I deleted some that I meant to keep. If you are reading this and think you are one of them, let me know!
