You can interact with other people on LinkedIn in three basic ways:

1. Either connect with them,
2. Contact them,
3. or follow them

But are not connections and contacts the same thing? And can you contact someone on Linkedin without connecting with them?

In short, No. Terms, connections and contacts refer to different kinds of interaction on LinkedIn.

This post explains their difference. Also, we have describe why you cannot find your Linkedin Contacts in the My Network tab any more. And is there anyway you can still export the information of your connections in bulk.

But first, let’s see what contacts are at the first place. And why these are not equivalent to your LinkedIn connections:

What Are Contacts On LinkedIn?

A contact is anyone you have approached to on this networking platform. This interaction includes:

• Messaging someone
• Receiving a message from them
• Sending a connection request
• Accepting a connection invitation

Also, your mobile or email contacts enter LinkedIn contacts when you sync them with your professional account.

What Is The Major Difference Between On-LinkedIn Connections And Contacts?

The person whom you have willingly added to your network are called connections. These are the persons whose posts you see in your feed and get notifications about their activities.

These are the users you have sent a connection requestion (or they invited you to get connected), and they have accepted it. These are called your 1st-degree connections.

Besides that, you also have 2nd or 3rd degree connections who are, in turn, the users not connected to you but to your direct connections.

In contrast, a direct connection with the person is not required to be a contact. Every person you have messaged or sent an invitation to is a part of your contact list.

And as you have invited or accepted an invitation from your 1st-degree connections, they are all your contacts as well.

How To Find Contacts On LinkedIn?

LinkedIn has removed the contacts manager feature in September 2023. That’s why, now, you cannot see your contacts list.

Consequently, all options to add, block, sync, and import contacts are gone after this update. And if you have previously turned contact syncing on, it is now automatically stopped.

However, you can still export the data of contacts that you have previously imported from your mobile or email.

Let’s see how.

How To Export Contacts On LinkedIn?

You can export the data from different sections of your profile.

For instance, you can get the copy of the data you previously imported from different devices, extract the emails of your 1st degree connections, or export your invitations and messaging details.

Here is the brief method to do so:

• Open the Setting & Privacy section by clicking on the Me icon from the top taskbar of your home feed.
• Next, go to the Data Visibility tab from the left sidebar. Here, from the first section, you can manage how LinkedIn uses your data.

• Click on the second option, Get a copy of your data. You can also go to this page directly with this link https://www.linkedin.com/mypreferences/d/download-my-data
• You will be directed to a new page where you get two kinds of options to extract LinkedIn contacts’ data from your profile.

Easiest convenient export is to export all of your profile data. This big-data file includes your imported data, invitations, messages and connections all at one place.

Otherwise, you can choose what information you need and choose the respective option for export. Four options can provide you some information about your LinkedIn contacts.

1. By exporting Messages data, you will get information about the people you have contacted through dm.
2. Invitations data will provide you information about the people whom you have sent a connection request.
3. Exporting Connections, you  will get data of all the members you are  in touch with on this platform. You can use this data to copy contacts from LinkedIn. For example, you can approach them via email or phone number (if they have provided it in profile public information).
4. You can extract the data of synced imported contacts using the Imported contacts option.
5. Once you have selected the suitable option/s, click on Request Archive. In some time, you will receive a .csv file containing all your requested data in your mail box. (the time of delivery depends upon the size of exported file, ranging from 10 minutes to 3 days)

Using this option, you cannot download LinkedIn contacts to excel but will only csv files containing data of  your connections. But you can view the csv text file in MS Excel for a spreadsheet view or convert it to an .xls or .xlsx file.

However, besides this option of exporting contact details, you can no longer view contacts on LinkedIn directly.

How To Remove Contacts On LinkedIn?

Although LinkedIn does not allow importing contacts form external sources, you can still remove the older ones from your profile.

Use the following method to delete contacts on LinkedIn:

Related : Delete cv on LinkedIn

• Click on Me button and open the Settings & Privacy panel of your profile.
• Now go to Account Preferences and scroll down till Syncing options.
• Click on Sync contacts. The new page will display the sources you have synced data from (like your mobile phone or Gmail or outlook).

• Click on Remove all.  A pop-box will ask for your confirmation to delete contacts’ information.
• Choose Continue for removing all synced contact.

Related: How to Delete LinkedIn account

How To Delete Multiple Contacts On LinkedIn?

When you remove synced data, you are actually removing multiple/bulk contacts on LinkedIn. That’s because you cannot do it manually for every contact.

FAQS

How can maintaining a large network of LinkedIn contacts benefit your career?

Having a large professional network will give you access to a number of industry expert outside your company and personal circle. Firstly, connecting with skilled professionals will keep you updated about the latest trends and help you hone your skills.

Also, many of these are potential clients and can provide you with a job opportunity. This way you can turn your social media connection into a growth-oriented work relationship.

What strategies you can use to manage and categorize your LinkedIn network?

Third-party tools come in handy for connection organization. These tools let you add tags on the connection and group similar connections. For example, you can make separate groups for your colleagues from your ex-organization or potential clients, etc.

Another way to effectively manage your connections is to disconnect with the unnecessary crowd. It will help you avoid the overwhelm that comes from having too big of a professional network that offers less value as compared to its size.

How can LinkedIn contacts contribute to your job search or business growth?

A diversified network on this social platform is an easy and low-cost method of reaching a large number of potential clients.

Are there any best practices for exporting LinkedIn contacts for business development purposes?

You can extract email addresses from your connections and approach them for promoting your business.

Think about which of your connections can prove to be a good prospect. Now, copy their email address to your personal catalogue for cold outreach. To make it easier, export the data of your connections in a single file and get contact details from there in.

Wrap Up

To simplifying profile management, LinkedIn has now removed contacts option. So, syncing and on-profile management is no more an option. Nonetheless, you still have the ability save contacts information via data export.

External links

https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/export-linkedin-contacts

https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a1339364

https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a547065

https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a550164

The post How to Add, Delete, Block, Import, Export, and find Contacts on LinkedIn appeared first on CareerBands.