Dear LinkedIn User,

Why, WHY would you mark your profile as “private”? This is equivalent to spending the time and money to put an ad on a billboard, and then throwing a large opaque sheet over to whole thing! Further, why, WHY would you take the time and effort to register as a user, and then leave out any information about your company, position, work experience,  specialties and other pertinent information? Again, you wouldn’t spend the time and money to create a billboard ad and then leave off the company name, logo, website and phone number.

LinkedIn is a tool for professionals to promote and discuss professional endeavors. It’s not a place for pictures of kids or parties, discussions about religion or politics, or any other unprofessional topics. Because you’re discussing professional endeavors, it would stand to reason that you would want your customers and colleagues to be able to find you and join the discussion. Unless you’re a high-profile CEO on the level of Bill Gates or the President of the United States, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be receiving such a high volume of inquiries and connection requests that you won’t want to accept them. Further, if you know a professional and regard them with esteem, why wouldn’t you accept their request to connect? It’s said that you are often known by the company you keep. With the internet making the world a smaller place, wouldn’t you want to show that you keep company with intelligent, hard-working people? Making more connections on LinkedIn allows you to keep a finger on the pulse of your peers and industry leaders, helps you find qualified, job-seeking professionals, allows you to expand your opportunities for business and professional growth.

There’s nothing more frustrating than finding a colleague online, only to discover that they’ve made it nearly impossible to connect. A sparse profile with extreme privacy settings is useless, so take the time to fill out the information and find some people to connect with. We’re beyond the Yellow Pages, but the concept is the same: don’t place an ad where people can’t see it, won’t see it, or don’t care to see it… you’ll never improve your standing!

Thank You,

A Fellow LinkedIn User