LinkedIn's recent change is a big mistake!

In my 2013 book, New Business Networking, I dedicated an entire chapter to LinkedIn. At the time, it was the gold standard for professional connection. However, a recent change to one of its most vital features threatens the platform's very foundation, and unless LinkedIn reverses course, it could signal the network's demise.

The Power of the Connection Request Personal Note

During my 2015 keynote at LinkedIn’s "LinkedIn Live" conference, I emphasized one paramount rule: Always send a personal note with your connection request. A personalized note provides essential context. It reminds the recipient where you met or explains why a connection would be mutually beneficial. Without it, a request is just digital noise and possible stranger danger, but nowadays, this feature is practically blocked.

A Solutions-Based Approach to Spam

I suspect LinkedIn made this change to curb spam, but there were better ways to handle jerks and bots than penalizing the entire community. They could have easily implemented two features:

  • Captchas: Requiring manual verification before a note is sent.

  • Reporting Tools: Enhancing "Mark as Spam" options and suspending the messaging privileges of repeat offenders.

Instead, LinkedIn chose a "pay-to-play" model. My Spidey sense tells me this was a strategic move to drive paid subscriptions ($30–$60/month). While I respect the need for revenue, this decision guts the original concept of a professional social network to a club with membership fees.

The High Cost of "Free" Limits

For nearly two decades, sending a personal note was free, limited to a reasonable 100 per week. Under the latest 2023 rollout:

  • Free users are now capped at just five personalized notes per month.

  • The character count for those notes was slashed from 300 to 200.

With roughly 90% of users on the free tier, removing the ability to provide context will tank invitation acceptance rates. This won't just frustrate users; it will degrade the overall quality of the LinkedIn ecosystem.

Growing Friction

As someone who rarely accepts requests from strangers, I now find myself manually messaging people to ask who they are and why they wish to connect, a process made even more cumbersome by recent UI updates.

If this change isn't retracted, I predict active power users will begin migrating to the next viable competitor. As a longtime fan and user, I hope LinkedIn recognizes that the value of its platform lies in the strength of the connections it facilitates, not just the subscriptions it sells.

Will LinkedIn correct this error, or are there other professional networking competitors popping up?

communication, business & career, technologyDaveLinkedIn, networkingComment