What Does 3rd Mean on LinkedIn? 3rd, 3rd+ and Out of Network

Ask what does 3rd mean on LinkedIn and you can get an answer that treats “3rd” and “3rd+” as one label. Pathofex’s guide, for one, says you will find 3rd+ written next to people “that are not part of your network but are the ones that are connected to your 2nd connection”, which is LinkedIn’s definition of plain 3rd-degree, except that LinkedIn counts 3rd-degree connections as part of your network. LinkedIn’s own degrees of connection page never prints “3rd+” at all. The one LinkedIn Help page I found that uses it, 2nd and 3rd degree connections in search, says that filtering by 3rd+ “will include everyone that falls in your search criteria”.

Say a search for a product marketer at a company you want to join returns a name with “3rd” beside it. The degrees page tells you who that person is, someone connected to one of your 2nd-degree connections, and then stops: it gives a way to reach your 1st-degree connections, 2nd-degree connections, group members and out-of-network members, and none for the 3rd-degree row. So the useful answer is what the label lets you do next, and the table below takes every cell from a LinkedIn Help page I read on 4 November 2026, with the cells LinkedIn leaves blank marked as blank.

What Does 3rd Mean on LinkedIn?

3rd on LinkedIn means a 3rd-degree connection: someone connected to one of your 2nd-degree connections, so two people sit between you. LinkedIn shows “a 3rd degree icon next to their name in search results and on their profile”. Only connections can be messaged, so outside a shared group or employer, reaching them takes InMail (Premium) or their Open Profile.

Every category on LinkedIn’s degrees page, plus the 3rd+ filter and Open Profile, and what each one lets you do, as of November 2026:

Source codes are LinkedIn Help answer IDs: a541865 (messaging connections), a546814 (send an InMail), a545734 (build your network), a548094 (missing Connect button), a545663 (Open Profile) and a544787 (Open Profile messages). Every InMail row also depends on the recipient: “You can’t message a member if they’ve chosen not to receive InMail message in their message preferences settings.” How many InMail credits each plan includes is on my breakdown of what each Premium plan adds.

What Does 3rd+ Mean on LinkedIn?

3rd+ is the third option on LinkedIn’s Connections filter in people search. The search help page says “you can refine your search results by 1st, 2nd, and 3rd+ degree connections by using the Connections filter at the top of your search page”, and that filtering by 3rd+ “will include everyone that falls in your search criteria”.

I read that as 3rd-degree members plus everyone further out, out-of-network members included. The page does not use the words “out of network”, so that reading is mine. What the two Help pages leave unexplained:

• The degrees page (it read “Last updated: 5 years ago” on 4 November 2026) defines 1st, 2nd and 3rd-degree, followers, group members and Out of Network, and the string “3rd+” appears nowhere on it.
• The search page (“Last updated: 3 years ago”) uses 3rd+ only as a filter option. It does not say whether a profile can carry a 3rd+ badge, or how to tell a 3rd-degree result from an out-of-network one inside that filter.

One clue sits on a third page. LinkedIn’s search results page for free and Premium members says a free account’s results include “Full profiles with names of everyone within your network (1st, 2nd, 3rd degree connections, as well as members you share groups with, subject to their visibility settings)”. Out-of-network members are missing from that list, and the degrees page names them “LinkedIn Member”, with “limited visibility” on some profile fields. LinkedIn does not say exactly which fields, so I would not guess beyond that.

1st, 2nd and 3rd on LinkedIn: What Each Degree Means

Degrees count the people between you and someone else, and they are always relative to you: the same person can be your 3rd and a colleague’s 1st.

You can see a 1st-degree connection’s own connections by clicking “[Number] connections” below their profile picture, unless they have hidden them (View your connection’s connections). That list is your 2nd-degree network, one connection at a time.

Can You Message a 3rd-Degree Connection on LinkedIn?

Not for free, unless they are a Premium member with Open Profile. LinkedIn’s messaging page says “You can only message your connections” and “If you’re not connected, you can send an InMail message (requires a Premium subscription).” The one free exception on that page is for “coworkers or group members you’re not connected to”, who can get a message request.

The conditions that apply to an InMail, from LinkedIn’s InMail Messages page and Send an InMail page:

• A Basic (free) account “must upgrade to a Premium account to use InMail message”.
• The recipient can opt out of InMail in their message preferences, and then you cannot send them one.
• If they have Open Profile turned on, “you can message them for free”.
• “You can receive InMail message credits back if a recipient accepts your InMail message.”
• Premium InMail credits “can’t be used to send InMail messages on Sales Navigator or LinkedIn Recruiter”.

InMail and the invitation note each have character limits, which my list of LinkedIn’s published character limits quotes from the same Help pages.

Can You Connect With a 3rd-Degree Connection?

LinkedIn Help does not say you cannot. The degrees page names the Connect button only for the 2nd-degree row and says nothing either way for 3rd-degree. The Missing connect button page (a548094) lists six reasons the button can be absent, and a 3rd-degree connection is not one of them:

Two more steps can appear when you do send the invitation. LinkedIn may ask “How do you know [member name]?”, and choosing “We don’t know each other” means “you may be prompted to send a message first to establish a relationship”, which “could include sending an InMail message”. On some profiles with a Follow button, “you may be prompted to enter the member’s email address to connect with them” (Connect using a follow button). Why a profile shows Follow in the first place, and how to change your own, is in where creator mode’s Follow button went.

Where LinkedIn’s Help Pages Disagree on Degrees

Three answers change depending on which LinkedIn Help page you open. The “Last updated” labels are as the pages showed them on 4 November 2026:

When two Help pages conflict, I would plan on the more recently updated one, which here means a message request for group members and no extra InMail credits for sale.

What Else the Degree Changes on LinkedIn

The label next to a name also changes what you see of each other’s posts, profiles and search results:

How to Find 2nd and 3rd-Degree Connections in Search

LinkedIn’s search help gives the route in one line, and the steps around it come from the connections pages:

1. Search for a name, title or company in the Search bar at the top of any LinkedIn page.
2. Use “the Connections filter at the top of your search page” and pick 1st, 2nd or 3rd+.
3. To work through 2nd-degree people one connection at a time, open a 1st-degree connection’s profile and click “[Number] connections” below their profile picture.
4. To see only your own connections with filters, LinkedIn’s View your connections page points to My Network, then Connections, then Search with filters.

Remember the cap from the table above: a free search stops at 250 results, so a 3rd+ search on a broad title will not show everyone it matches.

What Does 3rd Mean on LinkedIn Before You Reach Out

Before you reach out, the label next to a name decides your first move:

LinkedIn’s own advice on its Follow and connect page is to “Only send invitations to people you know and trust”, so when a 3rd-degree name belongs to a stranger, I would follow them or send an InMail before any invitation. What does 3rd mean on LinkedIn, then, is two people between you and, unless they run Open Profile, no free message. Check the “Last updated” line on any Help page you rely on: on 4 November 2026 the degrees page read “5 years ago” and the messaging page “4 weeks ago”.