Before explaining Introductions on LinkedIn, it would help to explain how your network is structured. LinkedIn focuses on four degrees of separation.



First Degree Connections. These are people you respect and trust, that you've connected with directly. You have the ability to see their full profile, recommendations, and contacts (depending on their account settings, but that's another topic).

Second Degree Connections. These are the friends of friends. You can see that they're friends of your friends, but unless their profile is fully public, you won't see much detail about them. But some of your own favored friends and colleagues, past and present, are likely to be found here. You may or may not have their current email address, so you might need an introduction.

Third Degree Connections. "A friend of a friend of a friend." You might now some of these folks, as well. You can only see what they make public in their account settings.

The LinkedIn Network. The fourth degree is everyone else on LinkedIn, which is over 11 million and rising.

Let's go back to the opt-in, mutual acceptance philosophy of LinkedIn. They don't want you troubling their membership with unsolicited communication unless they know you know them, or it's done through InMail (easy to manage and prevent harassment). So in order to email them, you need an Introduction.

[InMail is a premium feature that allows you to send messages directly to other members. It's expensive, and most LPJC folks are not going to want to buy individual InMails, and may not want to spend $15 a month just to have that access, when you have a free alternative.]

An Introduction uses your connections and their connections to make a new connection. I'm friends with Joe, and we're connected on LinkedIn. I notice that Mary is connected to him through his friend Jerry, and I've been trying to reach her, but she's moved through four different companies since we last talked, and I don't have her personal email any more. I ask Joe to Introduce us. He forwards the Introduction to Jerry, who kindly forwards it to Mary, and if all goes well, we connect on LinkedIn.

Now, keep in mind, Joe doesn't have to forward the Introduction. And he can add a note to the forward, and so can Jerry. You, the person requesting the Introduction, will not be privy to those details. Jerry could say he doesn't know that Jenn Chick, but he heard she's scary. That's always a possibility. I have had one Introduction that required two parties get nixed because the connection my first level friend sent it to is someone we both worked with, unfortunately one with unresolved issues with me.

But never fear... You may not know the details of why, but you will get notified if the Introduction is accepted, forwarded, or rejected... or if it's been an extended amount of time with no response.

At this point, you might be getting visions of a huge connection list, that first degree of your network. But think on this; networking is like attending parties. If you make the effort to get to know everyone at the party, you'll probably not have time to relax and enjoy yourself. There's no fault in this. You spend some quality time with your old friends, and you make an effort to make some new ones, and you may meet some new people that you think you'll want to get to know better, but not right now. That's normal.

You don't have to know the entire world. That's too many people. Same thing on LinkedIn. You're already connected to 11 million people, you don't need to be close friends with all of them. The point of a network is that there are levels of interaction, not all of which are immediate. So before trying to connect with everyone, think about if there's value for both of you.

Homework:
Request an introduction using one of the following methods:

Go to Inbox > Send Message > Send InMail or Introduction > Search Now-OR-

From someone's Profile, select "Get introduced through a connection"

Extra Credit:
Check out more detail about your network and connections at LinkedIn Help & FAQ