Have you seen some LinkedIn accounts with follow instead of connect on their Introductory card?

What does this mean and which should you have on your profile?

How to Connect with someone on LinkedIn

The default setting on LinkedIn profiles is to show the ‘Connect’ button. It appears to the right of your profile photo.

When you connect with someone on LinkedIn, you are automatically following their content.

How to follow someone on LinkedIn

When you ‘follow’ someone on LinkedIn, you will see posts from that person in your newsfeed, but they will not see yours. When you follow someone but don’t connect, they are not following your activity on LinkedIn.

Why do you choose Follow first rather than Connect?

According to LinkedIn, your network should consist of people you already know. The follow option is to follow posts and articles from someone you want to hear from, but you don’t know.

For example, the above profile is the News Editor for LinkedIn News. So you may want to follow her articles on LinkedIn news.

Having a smaller network of people you want to engage with on LinkedIn usually provides a better experience than connecting with lots of people you don’t know.

How to build a powerful network on LinkedIn

One reason to choose to follow someone rather than connect, is if they are a thought leader within your industry and you want to keep on top of what is happening in the industry.

Examples of people you may want to follow – speakers, podcasters, authors, politicians.

The key differences between Followers and Connections

• When you are connected, you can see each others posts in your feed
• Followers can see your posts in their newsfeed. If you want to see one of your followers posts, you can follow them.
• You can only send messages to people you are connected to unless you have LinkedIn Premium*
• You can only endorse your connections for their skills
• You can only recommend (or request a recommendation from) a connection, not someone you follow

*With LinkedIn Premium, you can send up to 15 ‘InMails’ per month to people who are not your connections.

Conclusion

If you wish to build a network of people to engage with on LinkedIn, then it is probably a good idea to keep your profile as ‘connect’ first.

If you wish to build a following of people who want to learn from you and read your content, then set your profile to Follow first.