Dear Mr LinkedIn, will you show me yours if I show you mine?

I like LInkedIn a lot, and have written about the business social networking tool before, so I’m not going to repeat myself.

There is one small change I’d like them to make – you have only the black or white option of either showing , or hiding your connections.

I think there should be a third option: ‘Show mine if you show me yours’. I’ve only met a handful of people that hide their connections; I’m still happy to connect to them – I typically scan my LinkedIn list when asked to recommend people. But there’s no incentive for them to open their list – they get a free ride no matter what they choose.

It may be co-incidence, but all of the people with hidden connections make their living from their professional network (e.g. recruiters, high end management consultants).

What do you think? Are these people being business savvy, or just parasites stealing our networking time?