If you follow someone on LinkedIn, can you message them?
Follow means you see more of their posts. It does not open a chat. Creators and people with Follow as the primary button collect followers who cannot DM them.
To message, you still need one of the usual doors: they accept a connection, you spend InMail, they enabled Open Profile, or you share a group or event surface that still shows Message. Those doors change. Believe the button on their profile, not a Twitter thread.
Following before you invite can be polite if they post and you have something to say. It is not a loophole. A follow plus an invite plus a like in the same minute is still a bot tell.
If your own profile is in Creator Mode, visitors may Follow you instead of connecting. Then they cannot message you either, unless they use InMail or you connect anyway. That is the trade.
For outbound, Follow is optional seasoning. The conversation is still connect or InMail. See message without connecting.
Frequently asked questions
Only if a message path already exists the other way. Your follow does not grant them inbox access, and theirs does not grant you any.
Sometimes they turned Connect off. Follow plus a later InMail can be the only path. Do not spam Follow as a volume tactic.
Usually not in a loud way. Do not build a strategy around that trivia.
No. It adds noise to their notifications and yours. Follow the few you will actually read.
Run the outreach from your own LinkedIn account
Omentir finds ICP-fit buyers, drafts connection notes and messages, and keeps replies in one inbox. You still choose the daily send limits.
Try Omentir