I spend my days writing LinkedIn profiles and building personal brands for high-caliber general counsels, CEOs, and board members, as well as advising them on cultivating a strategic network for their next job search or landing a corporate board seat. I see things from many angles of the equation, including the executives and lawyers who want a strong LinkedIn profile presence, but are concerned about who to let into their network.
I want to warn you of an ongoing predatory practice that’s happening, and possibly without you even realizing it.
What Even Is AI ‘Competence’? It Depends.
Takeaways from a Legalweek panel on evolving malpractice risks.
There’s a version of LinkedIn networking that looks like collaboration but functions as extraction. In the 2018 to 2019 era, engagement pods on LinkedIn became a thing. These LinkedIn users were gaming the algorithm, creating large followings by mass-connecting with anyone and everyone, and using that to boost an influencer status.
During the pandemic, engagement pods continued to soar, touted as “supportive communities,” some via exclusive paid memberships. They were easy to recognize: the same folks commenting on each other’s posts in a tit-for-tat style with monotonous comments that provided little to no value. What I described years ago as “puffery” has simply found a more targeted vehicle: your LinkedIn post’s engagement list.
I’ve experienced this firsthand on multiple occasions, each following a similar pattern.
Several people in my network (clients, personal contacts, and peers) reported receiving unsolicited connection requests from someone they didn’t recognize. The common thread? They had liked or commented on one of my posts. The individual was a newer connection who never once engaged with my content, yet went directly after the people who showed up in my post’s engagement notifications rather than first building any legitimate relationship.
Legal Is Changing. And NeoSummit Is Where The Future Is Being Built.
Legal and operational leaders are gathering May 6–7 in Fort Lauderdale to confront the questions the industry hasn't answered—with a keynote from Amanda Knox setting the tone.
That’s not networking. That’s harvesting. It exploits something real: when you engage with someone’s content on LinkedIn, you become visible. Your name, your photo, your entire profile, your activity, and your connections are visible to anyone who is closely watching.
Predatory networkers know this. They monitor the engagement on influential profiles and scan connection lists, treating both as a prospecting tool: strangers made acquaintances by association. The behavior becomes more troubling if the person operates in the same space as you. At that point, an individual using your network’s engagement or connections as a prospecting tool isn’t a misstep. It’s calculated poaching.
Why LinkedIn Harvesting Is a Misunderstanding of How Networks Actually Work
I’ve written before about what strategic LinkedIn networking looks like, and the principles haven’t changed. As I noted in a prior article on building an effective LinkedIn networking strategy, proper LinkedIn networking is not a race to accumulate as many connections so you appear legitimate. While you want to connect with people who are relevant to your work, your industry, and your goals, it should be purposeful and meaningful.
What I described in that article as the “pepper spray approach” — blanket connection requests sent to anyone tangentially related to a contact’s network — is precisely what this kind of harvesting behavior looks like in practice. It’s high-volume, low-integrity. But more importantly, it won’t offer the long-term gain that person is expecting. Instead, it will often backfire once those being prospected catch on to the modus operandi.
It’s also why I’m deliberate about who I accept into my own network. I decline a significant portion of connection requests, particularly those that are untargeted or where the intent is clearly lead generation or poaching rather than genuine connection and a shared interest. If your opening move after connecting is an immediate sales pitch, you’ve already answered the question of why you wanted in.
Your follower count is not an accurate measure of how robust your network is, and the engagement you see on a LinkedIn post doesn’t reveal who is quietly reaching out behind the scenes. A network built on scraped associations is purely transactional. You want a network of people with whom you share genuine professional overlap, not hundreds of strangers who landed in your inbox because an algorithm surfaced your name under someone else’s post.
Real influence is built over years by showing up consistently, delivering value, and earning trust one relationship at a time. There are no shortcuts. Attempts to manufacture that kind of connection by piggybacking on someone else’s community aren’t worthwhile.
The Key Takeaway: Always Protect Your Network
If what I’m describing above hasn’t happened to you yet, it may. Unfortunately, LinkedIn’s default settings aren’t protective of your privacy. Here are a few adjustments worth making now to secure your own privacy:
Limit who can see your connections. Go to Settings > Visibility > Who Can See Your Connections, and toggle it so only you can see your full connections list. This is one of the most meaningful protections you can put in place. Also, manage who can see who you follow, as well as who can follow you.
These are small adjustments, but they limit the ability of someone to systematically mine your engagement and connections list for prospecting purposes.
A Final Note on Building A LinkedIn Network
The number of “likes” on a LinkedIn post or the size of a LinkedIn network is not an indicator of success. Borrowed influence is not influence, and when it’s taken without permission, it erodes the trust you spent years (maybe even decades) building.
Some of the most successful lawyers, general counsels, and C-suite business executives I’ve worked with who land the fastest in a new role or on a corporate board seat are the least active on LinkedIn. They aren’t manufacturing connections. They aren’t always actively commenting on posts or creating evergreen content. They stay in their lane and run their own race. They are purposeful in who they allow into their network and are focused on showcasing their own brand, credibility, and visibility.
A strong network is one of the most valuable professional assets you have. Build it strategically and guard it accordingly.
Wendi Weiner is an attorney, career expert, and founder of The Writing Guru, an award-winning executive resume writing services company. Wendi creates powerful career and personal brands for attorneys, executives, and C-suite/Board leaders for their job search and digital footprint. She also writes for major publications about alternative careers for lawyers, personal branding, LinkedIn storytelling, career strategy, and the job search process. You can reach her by email at [email protected], connect with her on LinkedIn, and follow her on Twitter @thewritingguru.