Eric SimmsSenior Program ManagerBaltimore, Maryland, United States
A better question is "What's the point of accumulating 81,000 contacts in your network?"
A person can achieve this number by visiting every member’s profile and clicking ‘Connect’, and many will accept their request. While a large number of connections will boost your Influence, this score has no meaning - no employer will hire someone because he has a high Influence score on Projectmanagement.com, and a high score doesn’t mean you’re an expert Project Manager.
Members with tens of thousands of connections usually haven’t exchanged a single word with most of their network, making them no different than complete strangers. It’s far better to have a few dozen people in your network with whom you regularly communicate and exchange knowledge than tens of thousands with whom you don’t.
...
4 replies by Christina Mary, Dan Balean, Rajiv Pathak, and Samuel Berroa de La Rosa
Feb 27, 2018 9:49 PM
Dan Balean
...
+1
Feb 27, 2018 9:52 PM
Rajiv Pathak
...
Very well said Eric.
Feb 27, 2018 9:53 PM
Samuel Berroa de La Rosa
...
Exactly , I really do not see the usefulness of having someone to contact and not exchange a greeting, nothing ......
If we are going to have thousands of contacts, at least we have to find a way to interact with these people ... But it is part of the system ...
I agree with Eric. If this were a platform for self-promotion, I would feel differently. If I were going to publish a book, I'd want 81,000 contacts and I'd make sure they all knew about my upcoming book and where to buy it.
As it is, I accept most requests, but I only make the request to people I interact with or see responding to the same threads I'm reading/responding to. I've had some good experiences using my network, but the law of diminishing returns applies - it doesn't take long for the connections to stop adding value.
I've let my network grow organically over the last 10 years, and I'm still under 1,000 contacts. There are probably a few connections I should pursue, but not another 80,000. Saving Changes...
Anish AbrahamPrivacy Program Manager| University of WashingtonAuburn, Wa, United States
Honestly speaking I don't see much benefit of connecting with 81,000 contacts. So, I completely agree with Eric and Aaron on this. Saving Changes...
This is a question I have though about. Not because I want 80,000 connections, but because I wonder how it is done. Particularly since I have noticed a few who's connections grow at a consistently high rate. I don't believe someone is sitting at the computer connecting with a hundreds of new users a day for example.
So, the pessimist in me theorizes (and yes it's just a theory without serious contemplation or conviction) that some members have an automatic connection of new users into their profile. I have run membership forums before and know there can be a software toggle to do this.
Some of my good colleagues are very high up in the connections count, and I am not suggesting this is the case with them (and it doesn't matter if it was). But if they were to tell me that it isn't the case, I guess I would have to come up with another theory lol. It hasn't been important enough for me to ask.
Having said that, at the end of the day this site isn't about the number of connections, it's about the content and connections we communicate with regularly.
...
1 reply by Eduard Hernandez
May 13, 2018 5:49 AM
Eduard Hernandez
...
Fully agree. Sante, I do believe that people that reach thousands of connections spend some time every day to connect with recently incorporated members. Not so much use in my opinion, but everyone is free to do what they please with their spare time.
Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
I think we've had this conversation before. Either way, I'm waiting to see when someone hits 100K!
...
1 reply by Riyadh Salih
May 09, 2018 10:19 PM
Riyadh Salih
...
Andrew wow that would be a record I like to hit that if it's a jackpot :)
Imagine if we could weight the connections, and then swap say 100 bad connections for 1 good one. I wonder what members would do then. Hold onto the bad ones I suspect lol Saving Changes...
Eric SimmsSenior Program ManagerBaltimore, Maryland, United States
This question makes me wonder to what extent differences in business culture affect our personal networking style.
In America being connected with others can be useful to one’s career, but it’s not strictly necessary. Therefore, I feel no urgency at all to connect with people on this site; I feel complete freedom to create a network of whatever size I choose. However, in many parts of the world knowing the right people is absolutely crucial for career advancement and success, and this might explain why some members pursue connections so diligently. Saving Changes...
A better one if we want to judge share of mind is the % of one's contacts who have recently read something we've posted, or better yet, have shared it with someone else...
Kiron
...
2 replies by Riyadh Salih and Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD
Feb 27, 2018 11:14 PM
Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD
...
Kiron, spot on.
May 09, 2018 10:21 PM
Riyadh Salih
...
Kiron, you should be sitting on this committee
Saving Changes...
Drake SettsuProject Manager / BloggerHi, United States
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Increasing your Network Connection base is very beneficial in so many ways so for those who are wondering what the purpose is or benefit, I would like to give you a brief of how I personally found it useful:
1- Mentoring / Assistance: In many cases, I connect with people and they send me a thank you message for connecting with them and say that they are new here and were wondering how they can start on this platform so I help them out get started here. Some people feel shy or not comfortable taking a first step.
2- Enhancing the Community Engagement: Item 1, leads to enhanced member engagement with this community as soon as they get their head around it and understand how much of an amazing platform and community it is. I feel that everyone of us should have a sense of ownership towards this community to try as much as he/she can to work towards enhancing it.
3- Connecting on other Platforms: In many occasions when I connect with people here, they send me a thank you message and tell me that they are not very active here and ask to connect on LinkedIn and share expertise. I did benefit a lot from so many people.
4- Connecting in Person: In many occasions, I connected with people on person via connecting through this platform and some of them (To be specific 2), we became friends although they are not very active here.
In summary, Network connections has so many advantages. You just need to look at the positive side of things and look whats beyond that number. I am not saying I am connection with all my connections but I certainly connected with a decent no. of people. (If you connect closely with 500 people out of the 80,000, this is a great achievement - This a small percentage maybe but a big number).
To address other issues that were mentioned:
1- Having Connections contributes very minimal to your influence. Check the rules under how to increase your influence.
2- It takes times to build a network base, it builds over time. There is no automatic connect thing except for the one that PMI created that connects you automatically to people from your chapter and you can turn that off.
3- At least 4 of our fellow colleagues who have huge Network Connection base are very active on this community and adds a lot of value.
For me, it is not about adding connections to show off the number. It is about the whole package of me being a member of this community, leading by example, contributing, helping, connecting, learning and the goes on.
...
4 replies by Elizeu Antonio, Kevin Drake, and Riyadh Salih
Feb 28, 2018 3:09 AM
Elizeu Antonio
...
Good knowledge and advise from your point of view.
Feb 28, 2018 3:28 AM
Elizeu Antonio
...
The "productive connection" in this case should be a goal, as we are "networker" for PMI.
Community Champion
