But, back to your question re: clamping down on LIONs. I have to admit that I’m more of the “to each his own” networking philosophy, where if you want to connect to thousands of people you don’t know, then that’s an individual choice. If you choose to accept an invitation from someone you don’t know, that’s also your choice. Does it really harm anyone? They mentioned people were worried about getting spammed, but they didn’t cite any instances of this happening, did they?

Besides if I see someone with that many contacts, I just assume that they don’t know any of them, hence I wouldn’t even think of asking them to make an intro or inviting them to connect with me. And, I do tend to ignore those requests unless they mention the DWC or some other connection we have. In fact, I don’t even recall getting more than a handful of linkedin requests over the past few years that were from “superconnectors,” which is probably why I view it as harmless.

More here: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/012009-linkedin-clamps-down-on-super-connected.html?hpg1=bn

Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz

@Ian – Just to clarify. When discussing connecting with “superconnecters” this was in a section of Jason’s book specifically focused on “search”. He, and I, were making a point that your ability to search is in direct relation to the size of your network and a “superconnector” can help expand your ability to search. In my mind, I saw the two things — search and contact — as separate, as there are many times I search for people on LinkedIn that I do not plan on contacting through LinkedIn.

Diane

First, your network is really only those people you have a direct connection to. If you attach yourself to a super-networker, you don’t get their network as yours automatically in any real sense — if you want to connect to any of their contacts, you wtill have to do that manually. All the super-networker brings is a new route to an introduction.

And this brings me on to my second point, which is that many traditionally workers fight against the approcah of connecting to everyone and anyone. LinkedIn itself discourages contact with people you don’t know by warning against accepting invitations from strangers and placing a restriction on your account if just 5 people you reach out to decline your invitation. Sure, you can attempt contact through an intermediary, including a super-networker, but then that (or those) intermediary needs to have comfort in the motivation for your request for contact to their network to let it through. There are no guarantees they will, or that it will then get accepted at the other end (see point above on account restrictions if you get too many rejections).

The obstacles presented by LinkedIn to building a network of valuable new contacts are rarely discussed unfortunately. But they exist and mean the site offers more to job hunters than business development, sales or marketing professionals looking for an easy way to new customers.

Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz

Great article. I agree, anyone looking to get the most out of LinkedIn should definitely go back and read Jason Alba’s book. The greatest thing about LinkedIn is that, if you pump up your profile properly, build a solid network, and participate in appropriate groups, you never really need to click on that “Jobs” tab. Those jobs will find you!

I have posted your article to our LinkedIn Group for Career Branding here: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1765067&trk=hb_side_g Please join us!

Cheers, Craig Fisher