LinkedIn is a professional social network where you can apply for work or publish vacancies for your company. Here you can connect with other professionals and grow your network.
1st-degree connections on LinkedIn are your direct connections. These are the people that have accepted your invitation to connect or you have accepted their invitation.
What activities can you perform with 1st-degree connections?
Following is the list of activities that LinkedIn allows for 1st-degree connections:
Sending or receiving text messages
With your 1st-degree connections, you can send or receive text messages. While if a particular person is on your 2nd or 3rd connection list, then you cannot text him or her.
Profile information visibility
You can also see their profile information along with the email and contact information of your 1st-degree contacts. This information visibility gradually decreases when you move further up the connections. 2nd-degree connections could not be contacted by you or vice versa nor their contact information is displayed. For 3rd-degree connections, you can only see very limited information on their contact info page.
This means that for a more fruitful professional career, you need to add contacts to your list of 1st connections if you want to expand your network on LinkedIn.
Also read: What does ‘Promoted’ mean in LinkedIn?
How to add a LinkedIn account to your 1st connection list?
Now that we have seen why the 1st-degree connection is important, it is time that we explain how you can add contacts. Click on the account that you want to add and then select on Connect option from their profile.
LinkedIn also shows potential contacts on the right menu. You can directly hit the Connect button from there.
Also read: How to write a recommendation on LinkedIn?
How to build your professional network on LinkedIn?
Networking is a sure-shot way to gain leverage over others and progress in your career. Here are some ways by which you can build or increase your professional network on LinkedIn:
By sending invitations
You can send invitations to potential contacts to make them your 1st-degree connections. These contacts are more intimate and close to you and through them, you can further increase your network.
By sending InMail messages
LinkedIn allows you to connect with 2nd and 3rd-degree connections in the premium version.
By following the person
You can also follow the concerned person to see what they post and write. You can thus be assured that they are the right people for your career. Visit the profile page of the person that you want to follow and then click on More > Follow.
Also read: Does LinkedIn show read receipts?
