Why I am not a LION [LinkedIn Open Networker]

You might have seen a lot of profiles on LinkedIn displaying [LION] in the headline. This acronym stands for LinkedIn Open Networker and it welcomes you to connect with this person, even if you don´t know her/him. 

For many, being a LION is a great way to develop a huge network of contacts very quickly. There are many groups in LinkedIn for Open Networkers such as Leading International Open Networkers (LION), LION Network or 500+ ★Connections Group★ LION (LI Open Networkers). LIONs normally share their e-mail address with everyone so that they can receive invitations from +2nd grade connections directly, dismissing LinkedIn´s ask of only contacting people you know.

Does LinkedIn like LIONs? Probably not. LinkedIn seeks engagement between members. An engaged member spends more hours on LinkedIn, uses more features, sees more Ads... and this brings more money.

LinkedIn not only discourages connecting with people you’ve never met, they only stop displaying the size of your network once you have reached 500 contacts. This probably helps reducing competition among members to have as much contacts as possible.

Another fact that supports this theory is that LinkedIn caps the maximum amount of contacts at 30,000 connections. However, LinkedIn offers a possibility to be an “official” LION if you have a premium account. LinkedIn calls it OpenLink or Open Profile. On their words “Open Profile allows other LinkedIn members to message you at no cost, without using InMail.”

Should you be a LION? For me, the decision on becoming or not a LION can be answered by the preference between Quantity Vs Quality. Before deciding, you should consider the following pros and cons:

Pros:

• Quickly build up a large network of contacts without having to spend time “hunting” new connections sending invites yourself
• Contact more easily potential clients/candidates/employers, as you'll have more 2nd grade connections that can introduce you to others
• Improve your ranking on LinkedIn’s search engine (similar to SEO, contacts can be compared to backlinks)

Cons:

• Spam, lots of spam: receiving dozens of e-mails a day from unknown members, many offers, presentations and scam
• Irrelevant content: your feed will include a lot of irrelevant content from other industries or regions that are out of your scope/interest
• Less engagement: real connections will hear less from you and you will hear less from them as they will get lost among hundreds of thousands of other connections

In my opinion, applying certain filters to accept invitations makes a lot of sense. I normally don´t accept invitations from people I have never met or if the invitation doesn´t include a personal message with a reason to connect.

And you? What rules do you follow when connecting with others on LinkedIn? Do you think being a LION makes sense or not?

Borja