LINKEDIN–HIDE YOUR CONNECTIONS OR NOT?

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I received a call on my voice mail from the marketing director of a large professional firm where I had trained their managers on LinkedIn.

She said the firm is making serious progress on developing their LinkedIn program, but one of the partners was recommending everyone in the firm be required to hide their connections.  She wanted to know what I thought before they made their decision.

I haven’t had a chance to talk with her yet, but here is what I will say.  Keep in mind, these are my opinions.  I respect others who feel differently & I understand LinkedIn offers the option, so they must have felt their members wanted a choice.

I will first ask why the partner might want to hide the connections.  I imagine the response would be members of the firm have spent years developing their contacts & have a lot invested in them.  Why should they give them to the world & their competitors?

My response would be that hiding the connections doesn’t keep people from seeing your connections.  Most people put in the name of the person they are looking for or do a key word search.  The desired connection will show up through you—even if you have selected to hide them.

Secondly, only your first line contacts can see your connections…so if you have a competitor you don’t trust invite you in to his or her network, you don’t have to accept.

You also need to think in terms of how hiding your connections make you look to others.  It is an understood cornerstone of social media to try to help other before you help yourself.   If you hide your connections, others will say, “How fair is that?  I’m sharing my connections with them and their hiding theirs.”

Remember your goal in social media is get people to know you, like you, & trust you.  My opinion is hiding your connections doesn’t help you achieve that goal.

This is David Sher, your WeMentor guy saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.