WEBVTT 00:00.180 --> 00:01.050 In this video. 00:01.050 --> 00:07.650 Let's talk about the famous 500 connections on Udemy, because it used to be the case that when you 00:07.650 --> 00:13.020 got to 500 connections, it used to say 500 plus connections, and it kind of kept everybody on the 00:13.020 --> 00:13.650 same level. 00:13.650 --> 00:18.390 Like even if somebody had 100,000 connections, only few people could see that. 00:18.390 --> 00:20.580 Most people just saw the 500 plus. 00:20.580 --> 00:24.310 And so there wasn't like a popularity contest as much. 00:24.330 --> 00:31.680 But now when I see my profile as somebody who is logged out, I see also this thing, 4000 followers. 00:31.680 --> 00:33.510 This is relatively new. 00:33.990 --> 00:40.830 And of course, we know what a follower from other social media sites is basically a one sided connection, 00:40.830 --> 00:44.430 like they are following me, but I'm not following them. 00:44.880 --> 00:47.980 But how do you manage this and where do you turn this on? 00:48.000 --> 00:51.180 How do you determine who's a connection, who is a follower? 00:51.180 --> 00:57.290 And before we get into that, some of the old rules of how many connections should you have still apply? 00:57.300 --> 01:03.150 For example, 500 connections used to be a good benchmark just to kind of be able to show that you have 01:03.150 --> 01:06.330 enough social proof on LinkedIn. 01:06.510 --> 01:12.060 And it's easy to get 500 connections because when you first create your profile, connect with all your 01:12.060 --> 01:18.690 contacts on LinkedIn with whom you're already in contact on other social media sites and connect with 01:18.690 --> 01:20.100 your professional connections. 01:20.520 --> 01:25.420 If you still don't have 500 connections, then what's going to happen when you fill out your whole profile? 01:25.440 --> 01:27.920 Random people are going to start connecting with you. 01:27.930 --> 01:32.670 Maybe they're recruiters, maybe they're sales people trying to sell you something, even though you're 01:32.670 --> 01:34.560 never going to buy what they're selling you. 01:34.830 --> 01:39.720 If you connect with them, it gives you a plus one connection, and they're going to start finding you 01:39.900 --> 01:46.830 through internal LinkedIn tools when you fill out your profile and they're going to find you by searching 01:46.830 --> 01:47.580 keywords. 01:47.790 --> 01:53.400 So, for example, if I'm a intrapreneur, people who are trying to sell me entrepreneur services like 01:53.400 --> 01:58.920 freelancing services or SEO services that I could possibly use, they find me all the time and ask me 01:58.920 --> 01:59.850 to connect. 01:59.850 --> 02:01.980 And the same thing will likely happen to you. 02:02.100 --> 02:05.730 So getting connections is not a challenge on LinkedIn. 02:06.060 --> 02:07.830 That number will naturally grow. 02:08.310 --> 02:12.430 And keep in mind the more connections you have either followers or connections. 02:12.450 --> 02:16.920 Let's say you're promoting something in the future or you're posting your job or saying that you're 02:16.920 --> 02:17.940 open to get a job. 02:17.940 --> 02:18.630 Anything. 02:18.630 --> 02:23.700 Well, the more people who follow your connect with you, the more of them will see whatever you're 02:23.700 --> 02:26.280 posting in your feed or your updates. 02:26.430 --> 02:32.730 So actually, it's helpful to have more connections because you never know who out there may be able 02:32.730 --> 02:33.750 to help somehow. 02:34.080 --> 02:42.120 But having said that, let's look at some official LinkedIn documentation about followers versus connections. 02:42.420 --> 02:44.640 We'll do this together, but here are the steps. 02:44.640 --> 02:50.910 First to click on the me icon settings and privacy visibility and then under visibility of your LinkedIn 02:50.910 --> 02:54.660 activity, click change next to followers. 02:54.840 --> 03:02.700 So let's go there together under me settings in privacy, then under visibility. 03:03.240 --> 03:07.410 Then you want to scroll down and you'll see something that says Followers. 03:07.860 --> 03:15.390 We'll click that and then it says Select one of the following options everyone on LinkedIn or your connections. 03:15.690 --> 03:20.420 If you select everyone on LinkedIn, all LinkedIn members can follow your updates. 03:20.430 --> 03:27.750 This option also enables your posts to be shared off LinkedIn or your connections only your first degree. 03:27.750 --> 03:30.480 That means people you actually connect with both ways. 03:30.690 --> 03:32.430 Like you're connected with them, they're connected with. 03:32.430 --> 03:33.810 You can follow your updates. 03:33.810 --> 03:35.580 So then you say everyone on LinkedIn. 03:35.940 --> 03:43.080 So you basically choose this option if it's not already chosen by default and under make follow up primary, 03:43.440 --> 03:48.510 saying, Yes, that's this section, make follow up primary. 03:48.960 --> 03:55.770 If you say yes, then follow will be the primary action for people who see my profile. 03:56.550 --> 04:01.650 And if I say no, then connecting will be the primary action for people. 04:01.650 --> 04:02.760 View my profile. 04:03.060 --> 04:08.430 So you basically deciding do you want people to, for the most part, just follow you as a one sided 04:08.430 --> 04:14.400 follow, which gives you all the benefits like you can still promote to them, but they're just not 04:14.400 --> 04:15.960 your immediate connections. 04:15.960 --> 04:18.300 So that way, your immediate connections stay clean. 04:18.420 --> 04:20.280 So that's how you use the follow. 04:20.700 --> 04:26.580 But at the same time, let's say people do want to message you and they want to connect on a better 04:26.580 --> 04:28.650 level, like recruiters or something like that. 04:28.650 --> 04:34.380 Well, maybe you want to let them connect with you more in case they're just connecting because they 04:34.380 --> 04:36.270 want to send a message after that. 04:36.600 --> 04:41.160 Like, for example, many, many people try to sell me something like I have a whole bunch of people 04:41.160 --> 04:46.560 trying to sell me something whenever I accept their connections, like this person just randomly. 04:46.560 --> 04:51.210 I accepted today and he's basically going to trying to sell something. 04:51.210 --> 04:55.050 And I know that because if I look at his account, he's like PR outreach specialist. 04:55.050 --> 04:59.880 So basically he's asking me about some PR I had before and I'm sure he's going to try to sell me. 05:00.000 --> 05:00.710 More PR? 05:00.960 --> 05:01.950 Something like that. 05:01.950 --> 05:07.130 But what if I am looking for an amazing PR company and I'm looking through them? 05:07.140 --> 05:13.180 Then I kind of am interested in such inquiries and also people who legitimately could be my connections. 05:13.200 --> 05:15.510 I kind of want to be more inviting to them. 05:15.690 --> 05:18.570 So in my case, I'd still choose Connect. 05:18.660 --> 05:26.790 So those are the updated connection and follow options on LinkedIn and some strategies for how you can 05:26.790 --> 05:30.560 choose which one is preferable for you and how to actually choose it.