LinkedIn Not Working For You? You’re Doing It Wrong.

Author’s note, August 2026: I originally wrote this after purging hundreds of connections from my own LinkedIn network. The lesson – that quality beats quantity on LinkedIn – has only gotten more true with time. Here is the updated version.

If LinkedIn is not working for you, the problem is probably not LinkedIn. It is your network.

Most people build their LinkedIn connections the same way. They accept every request, chase the 500+ badge, and add anyone the algorithm suggests. I did the same thing. I spent evenings going through “People You May Know” and clicking connect on everyone with a pulse. My goal was to hit 1,000 connections. I hit it. And then I realized my network was useless.

My feed was filled with content that had nothing to do with my work. Complaints, spam, political debates, motivational quotes from people I had never met. The platform felt like a waste of time, and I blamed LinkedIn for it.

But the platform was not the problem. I was.

The Fix: Pull the Weeds

I removed about 400 connections. My criteria were simple: if someone was not going to do business with me, add value to my network, or post content I could learn from, they were gone. It felt drastic at the time, but the effect was immediate. My feed became useful again.

Rebuild with Intention

After the purge, I did not just start adding people randomly again. I sat down and thought about who I actually wanted in my network. What kind of clients did I want to attract? What kind of partners would make my work better? What kind of content did I want to see every day?

I built an avatar of my ideal connection – not a single person, but a profile of the kind of people I wanted to surround myself with professionally. Then I went out and found them. I sent connection requests with personal notes explaining why I wanted to connect. I verified that the interest was mutual before adding anyone.

This is Strategic Intent applied to networking. Instead of collecting connections, I was building a network – one that actually served my business and my growth.

What Changed

My feed became a source of ideas instead of noise. I started having real conversations with people who could actually become clients or collaborators. My content reached people who cared about it instead of disappearing into the void. LinkedIn went from frustrating to functional.

How to Do This Yourself

Start by scrolling through your connections list. Ask yourself about each person: Do I know who this is? Would I take a meeting with them? Do they add value to my professional world? If the answer is no to all three, remove the connection. LinkedIn will not notify them, and you will not miss them.

Then define who you want to add. Think about your ideal clients, your industry peers, the people whose work you respect. Search for them intentionally and connect with a purpose.

Your Network Is Your Feed

The content LinkedIn shows you is directly shaped by who you are connected to. If your feed is noisy and irrelevant, it is because your network is noisy and irrelevant. Curate the network, and the platform starts working the way it was designed to.

Pull the weeds from your digital garden. What grows back will be worth your time.