What 3rd means on LinkedIn
The small label next to a name on LinkedIn, in search results, on profiles and in messages, 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 3rd+, is the connection degree: how many accepted invitations separate you from that person.
3rd means the person is connected to one of your 2nd-degree connections, so there are two people between you.
It is the most common label a salesperson sees, because most prospects are not in the network yet, and it decides one practical thing: whether you can message the person free or have to earn or pay for the right.
The degree is about you, not about them. The same member is 1st to their colleagues, 2nd to their colleagues' contacts and 3rd to everyone one step further out.
Nothing about the person changes when the label does; what changes is the route to their inbox. LinkedIn recalculates the label from accepted invitations only.
Following someone, viewing their profile, being in the same group or attending the same event does not move the degree, although some of those open a message route of their own.
1st, 2nd, 3rd and 3rd+: what each one lets you do
| Label | Means | Profile | Free message | Invitation | InMail |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Directly connected | Full, with shared contact details | Yes | Already connected | Not needed |
| 2nd | Connected to one of your connections | Full; mutual connections shown | No, unless Open Profile or shared group | Yes | Yes, paid |
| 3rd | Connected to a 2nd-degree connection | Full; no mutual connections | No, unless Open Profile or shared group | Yes | Yes, paid |
| 3rd+ or Member | Further away, or out of network | Limited, by their settings | No | Sometimes, by their settings | Yes, paid |
Two labels look alike and behave differently. 2nd-degree profiles show the mutual connections, which is a path: you can ask the person you both know for an introduction, or name them in the invitation note.
3rd-degree profiles show no mutual connection because there is none; the path runs through someone in your 2nd-degree network, who is not shown. That is why 3rd-degree outreach relies on the note, the warm-up and the alternatives below rather than on an introduction.
Reading the degree in LinkedIn search and using it in outreach
LinkedIn search shows the degree next to every name in the results, and the filter panel lets you search by it: 1st, 2nd and 3rd+ as checkboxes. For sales outreach that filter is the fastest way to sort a list into routes.
Search for the role and the company type, tick 2nd to find the people someone you know can introduce you to, then tick 3rd+ to find the rest and plan connection requests for them.
Sales Navigator adds the same filter with more precision and shows the degree on lead lists, so a rep can see at a glance which prospects get a free message today and which get a connection request first.
On a profile, the degree sits beside the name under the headline, and the buttons below it change with it: Message for 1st-degree connections, Connect for 2nd and 3rd, and for 3rd+ members either Connect, Follow or Message depending on their settings.
When the Message button appears on a 3rd-degree profile without a connection, the member has Open Profile turned on, and you can write to them directly and without a credit.
Reading those buttons before writing is the whole skill; everything else on this page follows from it.
Why the degree matters for prospecting
The degree decides the route and the cost. A 1st-degree prospect gets a free message that lands in the main inbox. A 2nd-degree prospect gets an invitation that can mention a shared name, which is the warmest opening LinkedIn offers.
A 3rd-degree prospect gets an invitation that has to stand on its own, or an InMail that costs a credit, or a free route through Open Profile, a shared group or an event.
A 3rd+ prospect is InMail or nothing on LinkedIn, which usually means the sequence leans on email and phone for that person.
Sales reps who check the degree before sending connection requests or messages choose the route in seconds; reps who do not send InMails to people they could have messaged free and invitations to people who cannot receive them.
Whether the person will reply. A 3rd-degree prospect who posted about your problem this week is a better lead than a 1st-degree connection who accepted a blank request two years ago. The degree sets the route; the research sets the message.
How to reach a 3rd-degree prospect on LinkedIn, step by step
Most 3rd-degree prospects can be reached without paying, and without a connection request going to waste. The order below goes from free to paid and from warm to cold, and it is the order that keeps the account out of trouble.
Check the degree and the path
Open the profile. The label sits next to the name; mutual connections appear only for 2nd-degree people. A 3rd-degree prospect has no shared connection to show.
Look for a free door first
Open Profile lets anyone message the member. Shared groups and events let members message each other in many cases. Both cost nothing.
Warm up before the invitation
Follow the person, comment on one or two posts over a week or two. A name they have seen accepts more often than a stranger.
Send an invitation with a note
Under 200 characters: where you saw them and why you want to connect, no pitch. Acceptance turns 3rd into 1st and opens free messaging.
Use InMail only when the invitation fails
One InMail on a paid plan, with a subject that names the reason. If it goes unanswered, move the prospect to email or park them.
Free routes and paid routes to a 3rd-degree member
The weekly invitation cap is the constraint that shapes all of this. LinkedIn enforces a limit on invitations per week, shows a warning when an account approaches it, and does not publish the number; vendor figures for it vary and change.
Invitations that sit unanswered and invitations the recipient marks as unwanted count against the account, so a rep who sends specific invitations to fewer 3rd-degree prospects reaches more of them than one who sends blank invitations to everyone.
The 3rd-degree connection path
LinkedIn shows the path only one step deep. On a 2nd-degree profile, the mutual connections list is the path: those are the people who could introduce you. On a 3rd-degree profile there is nothing to show, because the link runs through a 2nd-degree person you are not connected to.
To find that person, look at who the prospect is connected to at their own company or in their industry and check whether any of them are 2nd-degree to you; the mutual connection on that profile is the person who can make two introductions.
In practice this is worth doing for a handful of high-value accounts and not for a list of two hundred, where the invitation note does the work.
Mistakes with connection degrees
These are the connection-degree mistakes that show up most in LinkedIn outreach.
- Sending InMail to 1st-degree connections, which costs a credit and looks automated.
- Sending blank invitations to 3rd-degree strangers in bulk, which burns the weekly cap and gets the account flagged.
- Treating 3rd+ as unreachable when the person has Open Profile on.
- Reading the degree as a measure of the person's importance, when it only measures distance from you.
- Writing "I noticed we have mutual connections" to a 3rd-degree prospect, who can see that you do not.
- Giving up on LinkedIn for a 3rd+ prospect instead of moving the sequence to email and phone, where the degree does not exist.
In a sequence
In the 10-day cadence, a 3rd-degree prospect gets the email first and the connection request second, so that the invitation note can refer to the email. The note below is that second touch: it names the email, gives a real reason to connect, and makes accepting the easiest way to reply.
Hi {{firstName}}, I sent you a short note by email yesterday about the two SDR openings at {{company}}. Connecting here so it is easier to reply either way, and because your post on ramp time was the clearest thing I have read on it this month. {{senderName}}
The note references an email that never arrived because the address bounced, or a post the person did not write.
Then the invitation reads as a script with the wrong merge fields, and a declined invitation counts against the account.
Send the note only after the email delivered and only about a post you actually read.
Frequently asked questions
What does 3rd mean on LinkedIn?
It means the person is a 3rd-degree connection: connected to one of your 2nd-degree connections. There are two people between you. You can see their profile and send an invitation, and you cannot message them free.
What does 1st mean on LinkedIn?
A 1st-degree connection is someone who accepted your invitation or whose invitation you accepted. You can message each other free and see each other's full profile and, where shared, contact details.
What does 2nd mean on LinkedIn?
A 2nd-degree connection is connected to one of your 1st-degree connections. The profile shows the mutual connection, you can send an invitation, and you can ask the mutual connection for an introduction.
What does 3rd+ mean on LinkedIn?
3rd+ means the person is further than three degrees away or in a part of LinkedIn your network does not touch. Some profile details are hidden and the only paid way to message them is InMail. LinkedIn shows "Member" in some places instead of a degree for the same case.
Can I message a 3rd-degree connection on LinkedIn?
Not free, unless they have Open Profile turned on or you share a group or an event that allows member messaging. Otherwise you send an invitation and message after they accept, or you send an InMail on a paid plan.
Can I see the connection path to a 3rd-degree person?
Only partly. LinkedIn shows mutual connections for 2nd-degree people. For a 3rd-degree person there is no shared connection to show, so the path is a 2nd-degree person who knows them, which you find by looking at who in your 2nd-degree network works with them.
Does 3rd on LinkedIn mean the person is not connected to me?
Yes. Only 1st means connected. 2nd, 3rd and 3rd+ all describe distance from your network, and the number goes up as the distance does.
Why do some people show 3rd and others show nothing?
The label depends on your network, not theirs. The same person is 2nd to one member and 3rd to another. When a profile shows no degree, it is usually because the person is out of network, the profile is restricted, or you are looking while logged out.
How do I turn a 3rd-degree connection into a 1st?
Send an invitation with a note that says where you saw them and why. If they accept, they become 1st and you can message free. Warming up with a follow and a comment or two first raises the acceptance rate.
Is a 3rd-degree connection worth contacting for sales?
Yes, if they fit the profile. Most prospects start as 3rd-degree. The degree only decides the route: invitation first, InMail if that fails, email and phone alongside.
Does the degree affect what I see on the profile?
Yes. 1st-degree connections see the full profile and shared contact details. 2nd and 3rd see the full profile without contact details. 3rd+ and out-of-network profiles show less, depending on the member's settings.
Is there a limit to how many 1st-degree connections I can have?
LinkedIn caps connections at 30,000 per member, which is far beyond what a working network needs. The practical limit is the weekly cap on invitations, which LinkedIn enforces but does not publish.
- LinkedIn Help, Networking topic: degrees of connection, invitations and Open Profile, checked Sep 16, 2026.
- LinkedIn Help, What is LinkedIn and how can I use it, for the description of connections, checked Sep 16, 2026.
- LinkedIn Help, InMail message credits and renewal process, for credits returned when an InMail is accepted, declined or answered within 90 days, checked Oct 1, 2026.
- Evaboot, What Does 1st, 2nd and 3rd Mean on LinkedIn, for the ways to reach 3rd-degree members without a connection, checked Sep 16, 2026.
- The weekly invitation limit is not published by LinkedIn and vendor figures for it vary; no number is quoted on this page.