If you have been on LinkedIn for some time then you have probably come across these rankings. What do these 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rankings on LinkedIn mean?
The rankings attached to people’s profile on LinkedIn is called the degree of connection. This indicates how close you are to that individual on LinkedIn.
The meaning of 1st on LinkedIn is that the person is a close connection that you have accepted each other’s connection request, the 2nd is the people that are connected to your 1st-degree connections but you are not connected to them, the 3rd is the connections of your 2nd-degree connections that you have not connected to.
You can find a detailed meaning of these degrees of connection and what you can do with any of these connections.
What is LinkedIn Degree of Connection?
LinkedIn Degree of connection shows how close you are to an individual on LinkedIn. Since LinkedIn is made for professional networking, it will be a not good experience for random people to hit your direct message with unrelated messages.
This degree of connection makes you know more about an individual through their connections and also limits random people from connecting.
As a good practice, you always need to know someone or have something in common or important before connecting.
There are three main degrees of connection on LinkedIn, these include 1st degree, 2nd degree, and 3rd-degree connections. There is another degree of connection which are people you that are not connected in any way on LinkedIn, these are Out-of-Network or LinkedIn Members.
Let us look at each degree.
What is LinkedIn’s 1st Degree connection?
LinkedIn 1st Degree connections are the people on LinkedIn who have accepted our connection request or we have accepted theirs.
If someone is your 1st-degree connection, you will see a 1st label attached to their names.
Our 1st-degree connections are more like our friends compared to other social media platforms. We can send these people messages, view their contact info, see their posts and activities on our feed, and get notifications about them.
From the LinkedIn connection tree image above, Matthew and Philip are the 1st degree connections of John since they are connected directly.
What is LinkIn’s 2nd Degree Connection?
2nd degree connections are the 1st degree connections of our 1st degree connections that we are not connected to on LinkedIn.
From the LinkedIn connection tree image above, Sarah and jones are 2nd degree connections of John through Matthew. The same way Joseph and Meshack are also John’s 2nd degree connections through Philip.
What is LinkedIn’s 3rd Degree Connection?
3rd degree or 3rd+ connections are the 1st degree connections of our 2nd degree connections that we are not connected to on LinkedIn.
From the LinkedIn connection tree image above, Gifty and Juliana are John’s 3rd degree connections through Sarah and Matthew.
What is the meaning of Out of Network or LinkedIn Members?
When someone falls outside these three degrees of connection, then that person will be marked an Out of Network. Depending on the person’s preference, the name can be appeared or will be represented by LinkedIn Member.
Wrapping up
If you look at these degrees of connection well, you will realize the power of LinkedIn connections and how you can get an opportunity through these connections.
It is advisable to connect with industry experts and colleagues as much as you can to reach more people on the platform.
You can also connect with me on LinkedIn. This is my LinkedIn Profile: Daniel Yeboah.
Thank you so much for reading. Hope this content has explained everything you need to know about LinkedIn connection degrees. If you have any messages or questions, feel free to post them in the comment section below and we will do our best to answer you.