LinkedIn is taking the connection out of networking – FSView & Florida Flambeau

Feb. 15, 2026, 9:01 a.m. ET Your network is your net worth. But when networking becomes a competition to reach over 500 connections with people you’ve never met, something fundamental has been lost in translation. Networking leads to job opportunities and future success. At least this is what career fairs, conferences, and LinkedIn promise. Increasingly, networking culture is centered more on how many people you know, instead of who you know. The focus has shifted from cultivating meaningful professional relationships to accumulating connections and broadcasting achievements for maximum visibility. Recent data shows that 35% of students use LinkedIn as a primary source for their job searches, up 700% over the last two years. Since its creation in 2003, LinkedIn has fundamentally reshaped what networking means. Connections that once required in-person interactions, address books, follow-up phone calls, and conferences can now be made with a single click. LinkedIn is more passive than traditional networking, though it can help manage relationships with people you’ve met in person. The platform also allows you to connect with people whom you’ve never met in real life, a feature that could be helpful, but isn’t if you never reach out to them and simply view them
Read More