Should a LinkedIn LION Display Their Connections?

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After I recently wrote about why I am a LinkedIn LION, I have gotten positive response from a lot of the readers of this blog that they are starting to “see the light” despite the negative wrap that LIONs have traditionally received.  At the same time, for those that want to slowly venture out and start to become a LinkedIn Open Networker, there is still a worry about keeping their private circle private.  Which leads to today’s question: is it right for a truly Open Networker to close up visibility of their connections to others?

Why many people keep their contacts private on LinkedIn was the subject of one of my very first posts in this blog last year.  And I commented on this as well in a more recent blog post concerning how you contact your new connection’s direct contacts.  I would like to add one more reason to my previous blog posts as to why you may want to hide your connections: prevent your contacts from being targeted by potential spammers, those with fake profiles that are increasingly becoming harder to detect.

What is important here is to note the distinction between an “Open Networker” and “Opening Up Your Connections”.  A LinkedIn Open Networker means 1) you are open to receiving invites from new people and 2) you will not respond with an IDK.  Whether you open up your connections or not is your prerogative and is unrelated to being an open networker.  It’s like saying, “Neal, since you are an open networker, will you recommend me even though you don’t know me?”  Of course I won’t!  So if you are in sales, recruiting, or want to try your best to protect the privacy of your trusted direct contacts, I see no problem in keeping your connections browsing closed.

I should note that LinkedIn is about social networking, so even if you close up your connections, they can obviously still be found if someone does an Advanced Search and that person that you are connected to appears in the search results.  In this scenario, you will show up as being the person that can make the introduction, and thus the end result will be the same in terms of your being able to make an introduction despite your connections being closed.  In other words:

Search for someone and if I am connected I will introduce you.

Don’t use my connections database as your virtual address book.

Seriously, if you connect with me and want to browse my connections, why not just give me a call or send me an email stating what types of people you are looking for that I am connected with?  I’d be more than happy to help if it is a valid request.  But more than likely, unless we went to school together or worked in the same company, I’ll tell you to do an Advanced Search and let me know who I am connected to that meets your search criteria.  It’s just much more time-efficient than going through several hundred screens of my contacts looking for a needle in a haystack.

I would like to point out that if you are NOT a LION and personally know all of your connections, then it may makesense to open up your connections because you don’t have to be afraid of spam.  But what happens if you are in sales and your good friend, who is also in sales, works at your competitor…will you still be opening up your contacts?  And that’s my point: it is the same issue and is your prerogative regardless of if you label yourself a LION or not.

To confirm your current Connections Browse status, please visit “Account & Settings” and go to “Connections Browse” which is on the right-hand side in the “Privacy Settings” section.