What is Arcweight?
Arcweight is a Chrome extension that adds a Connection Strength rating system to LinkedIn. It lets you classify every connection as Strong, Medium, or Weak, then uses those ratings to help you filter searches, sort results, and find the best path to reach anyone through shared connections.
LinkedIn treats all connections the same. Arcweight gives you a way to distinguish the people you actually know well from the ones you barely remember accepting. That distinction becomes powerful when you need to find the right introduction, filter out noise in search results, or figure out who can get you in touch with a specific person.
Getting Started
Arcweight runs as a Chrome extension on desktop (PC or Mac). There is no mobile version.
Installation
- Download the extension from arcweight.com/install.
- Unzip the downloaded file to a permanent folder on your computer.
- Open chrome://extensions in Chrome, enable "Developer mode" in the top right, click "Load unpacked," and select the unzipped folder.
- Pin the extension by clicking the puzzle piece icon in Chrome's toolbar and pinning Arcweight. Then click the Arcweight icon and sign in with your Google account.
Rating Connections
When you visit a 1st-degree connection's LinkedIn profile, Arcweight shows a badge below their name. Click it to open the rating modal, then choose Strong, Medium, or Weak.
Your rating is saved immediately and will appear everywhere that person shows up across LinkedIn: in search results, on their profile, in your connections list, and in shared connections views.
You can change a rating at any time by clicking the badge again. Ratings are private to you unless you explicitly choose to share them through the invite flow.
The Connection Strength Scale
Arcweight uses a simple three-level scale, represented as a green intensity gradient:
Strong means you know this person well. You could call them, they'd pick up, and they'd take action on your behalf. Dark green.
Medium means you've had real interaction. You could send them a message and expect a response, but the relationship has limits. Medium green.
Weak means the connection is thin. Maybe you met briefly, accepted a request, or have minimal interaction history. Light green.
Unrated means you haven't rated this person yet. Shown as light gray.
Badges on LinkedIn
Once you've rated connections, Arcweight shows color-coded badges in several places across LinkedIn:
Profile pages
On a 1st-degree connection's profile, a badge appears under their name reading "CS: Strong," "CS: Medium," "CS: Weak," or "Rate Connection Strength" if unrated. Click it to set or change the rating.
Search results
When you search for people on LinkedIn, each 1st-degree result shows a small colored badge next to the person's name and degree indicator. This lets you visually scan search results and immediately see who your strong connections are.
Connections page
Your connections list at linkedin.com/mynetwork shows inline badges next to each person's name.
2nd-degree profiles
When you visit a 2nd-degree connection's profile, Arcweight shows an SCI (Shared Connection Index) badge instead of a rating badge. This score tells you how reachable that person is through your mutual connections. See the SCI section for details.
Filtering & Sorting
On any LinkedIn search results page, connections page, or shared connections page, Arcweight injects a branded filter bar near the top of the results.
Filter pills
The filter bar shows four toggles: Strong, Medium, Weak, and Unrated. Click any pill to hide or show connections of that rating. For example, toggling off "Weak" and "Unrated" leaves only people you've rated Strong or Medium.
Sort Results
Click "Sort Results" to reorder the visible search results by Connection Strength. Strongest connections rise to the top. Click again to reverse the order, and again to restore LinkedIn's original order.
On pages with a mix of 1st-degree and 2nd-degree results, sorting groups 1st-degree connections (sorted by CS) above 2nd-degree connections (sorted by SCI score).
Scan All Pages
LinkedIn paginates search results across multiple pages (typically 10 results per page). By default, Arcweight can only filter and sort the page you're currently viewing.
Click "Scan All Pages" in the filter bar to have Arcweight automatically scan across all pages of the current search. It loads each page in the background, extracts every result, and builds a consolidated expansion panel on the right side of the screen.
The expansion panel shows all results across all pages, sorted by Connection Strength (1st-degree) and SCI (2nd-degree), with ratings visible at a glance. Scanning runs both forward and backward from your current page so nothing is missed.
Shared Connection Index (SCI)
SCI is a numeric score that measures how reachable a 2nd-degree connection is through your shared connections. The higher the SCI, the stronger your indirect path to that person.
How SCI is calculated
For each mutual connection you share with a 2nd-degree person, Arcweight multiplies two scores: your rating of that mutual connection, and (if known) the mutual connection's rating of the target. These products are summed across all shared connections.
The rating scale assigns numeric values: Strong = 3, Medium = 2, Weak = 1, Unrated = 1.5. If an intermediary hasn't rated the target (which is the default until they respond to an invite), their score defaults to 1.5.
Where SCI appears
SCI badges appear on 2nd-degree search results and on 2nd-degree profile pages. On profile pages, an initial approximate score appears immediately (based on the mutual count shown on the page), then Arcweight refines it in the background by loading the actual shared connections data. In the expansion panel, 2nd-degree connections appear in their own section, sorted by SCI.
Why SCI matters
Not all 2nd-degree connections are equally reachable. If your one shared connection with someone is Weak, your path to that person is thin. If you share five mutual connections you've all rated Strong, that person is very reachable. SCI quantifies this so you can prioritize who to pursue and through whom.
Best Path to Anyone
When you view the shared connections between you and a 2nd-degree contact, Arcweight shows a path pill next to each intermediary. The path pill has two halves:
- The left half shows your rating of the intermediary (S, M, W, or ? for unrated).
- The right half shows the intermediary's rating of the target person (if they've submitted one through the invite flow).
Arcweight sorts shared connections by the strength of the full path (your rating multiplied by the intermediary's rating). The best introductions rise to the top: an intermediary you know well who also knows the target well.
Inviting Others to Rate
The invite flow (sometimes called "organic pull") is how Arcweight gets other people to contribute their ratings, filling in the missing information about how well your intermediaries know the people you're trying to reach.
How it works
- On a shared connections page, Arcweight shows "Ask" buttons next to each intermediary.
- Clicking "Ask" opens a modal with two options: send a LinkedIn message or compose an email. Both include a personalized link to a rating page.
- The recipient clicks the link and rates the target person on arcweight.com/rate (no extension or account required).
- Their rating feeds back into your SCI scores and path pills.
Invite tracking
Each invite gets a short URL token with a status: Pending, Viewed, or Rated. The "Ask" button updates in real time to reflect the current status, so you can see whether someone has opened or completed your request.
The viral loop
After rating, the recipient sees a confirmation page with an invitation to install Arcweight themselves. Every "ask" is an introduction to the product for the person receiving it.
Rating Before Installing
People can rate connections through the invite flow without having an Arcweight account or the Chrome extension. Their ratings are stored securely and linked to their LinkedIn identity.
If they later install the extension and sign in, their pre-account ratings are automatically migrated to their authenticated account. Nothing is lost.
Privacy & Security
Your ratings are private
By default, only you can see your ratings. They are stored in your authenticated account and are not visible to anyone else on LinkedIn or Arcweight.
What data is collected
Arcweight stores the minimum necessary to function: your Google account email (for authentication), the LinkedIn profile slugs and names of people you rate, and the ratings themselves. No browsing history, messages, or other LinkedIn activity is collected.
Authentication
Sign-in uses Google OAuth through Chrome's built-in identity system. Arcweight never sees or stores your Google password.
Cross-user lookups
When the extension checks whether an intermediary has rated a target (for the path pill right-half), these lookups are handled by a secure server-side function that returns only the rating value, never any other user data. If no rating exists, the function returns nothing (not an error), preventing any information leakage about who uses Arcweight.
Who Uses Arcweight?
Sales professionals
SDRs and AEs doing outbound prospecting on LinkedIn can filter search results to surface warm paths instead of cold outreach. When targeting a specific account, SCI scores identify which shared connections offer the strongest introduction path.
Recruiters
Recruiting teams can quickly identify which candidates in a search they already have a real relationship with, and find the best path to reach passive candidates through shared connections.
VCs and fundraisers
Founders asking "who can intro me to this partner?" get a quantified answer. VCs evaluating deal flow can see which portfolio founders have the strongest paths to a prospective company.
Business development
Partnership and BD professionals can map the strength of their network into a target company, identifying the best introduction paths for high-value relationships.
Anyone with a large LinkedIn network
If you have hundreds or thousands of connections and often struggle to remember who you actually know, Arcweight helps you cut through the noise and find the signal.
Troubleshooting
Badges aren't appearing
First, make sure you're signed in (click the Arcweight icon in the Chrome toolbar). If you recently reloaded the extension at chrome://extensions, you need to also refresh any open LinkedIn tabs. The old page still has the previous version of the content script, which becomes invalid after a reload.
Badges disappeared after navigating
LinkedIn is a single-page app, so some navigation transitions can briefly disrupt injected elements. Badges should re-appear within a second or two. If they don't, a page refresh will restore them.
Filter bar looks misaligned
The filter bar initially appears at full width while LinkedIn loads its search results. Once the results column appears (usually within a second), the bar repositions itself into the correct column. This is normal behavior.
"Extension context invalidated" errors in console
This happens when you reload the extension at chrome://extensions but don't refresh the LinkedIn tab. The old content scripts can no longer communicate with the updated extension. Refresh the LinkedIn tab to fix it.
SCI shows 0 on a profile with mutual connections
If you encounter this, it may be a text-parsing edge case. The extension reads the mutual connections text on the profile page to determine the count. Refresh the page; if the issue persists, please report it.
Rating modal doesn't appear when clicking the badge
Ensure you're on a 1st-degree connection's profile. Arcweight only shows the rating modal for people you're directly connected to. For 2nd-degree connections, you'll see an SCI badge instead.
FAQ
Is Arcweight free?
Yes. Arcweight is currently free while in private beta.
Does Arcweight work on mobile?
No. Arcweight is a Chrome extension and only works in the Chrome desktop browser on PC or Mac.
Can other people see my ratings?
No. Your ratings are private by default. The only way someone sees a rating you've made is through the secure path lookup, which only reveals a single rating value in a specific context (the intermediary path pill).
Can I rate 2nd-degree connections?
No. Ratings are only available for 1st-degree connections (people you're directly connected to on LinkedIn). For 2nd-degree connections, Arcweight calculates an SCI score based on your mutual connections.
What happens if LinkedIn changes their website?
LinkedIn updates its interface frequently. Arcweight is designed with fallback selectors and structural detection so it continues working through most changes. If a major LinkedIn update breaks something, an extension update will be released.
How do I update Arcweight?
Download the latest version from arcweight.com/install. Replace the files in your existing extension folder, then go to chrome://extensions and click the refresh icon on the Arcweight card.
Can I export my ratings?
Not currently, but this is on the roadmap for a future version.
I rated someone but the badge still shows "Unrated"
This can happen briefly if the page loaded before the rating was saved. Wait a moment and the badge should update. If it persists, refresh the page.