LinkedIn Has Failed Me

LinkedIn has failed to achieve its purpose; I fear it has fallen into the same trap as other modes of social media: connecting us with people we do not know.
     For the first time, as far as I can recall, I had the opportunity to use the "Get Introduced" tool LinkedIn offers its users so they can use a 1st connection to connect with someone they do not know. I was excited; I would be able to connect with someone at a company where I had no connections. I could get the inside track before submitting a resume. Everyone constantly tells me I have to know people if I want to get a job. As ridiculous as that "sentiment" is, I have, by way of admitting to myself that people never change, succumbed to the idea that networking is healthy.
     I searched the company I was looking for, and a long list of people came up who were 2nd connections. I found someone in a similar line of work and clicked on the "Get Introduced" option under Connect. Our shared connection was a man to whom I had recently been introduced, and was someone I was fully confident would be able to give me some credibility in just connecting me. I sent the request.
     After a couple of messages back and forth about somewhat unrelated topics, he told me he did not know the man I was asking to be introduced to. He had no idea who he was. Yet they were connected, on a networking site. What?
     How is a site like LinkedIn supposed to function as intended if people do not know the people they are connected to? This is like starting an event on Facebook, scrolling through your thousand and a half friends, and realizing you only know a handful of them. Maybe you met some of them once and don't remember them, who knows. But for the most part, you know only a fraction of your "friends" and interact in person with even less.
     I realize that I am guilty of this problem on LinkedIn. I receive invites from people who are attending the same graduate program I went to, but are different class years. I could never recommend them to anyone or reach out to them for a recommendation either. I have invites from people who are, in real life, connected with someone I know personally, and think it is appropriate to make ourselves 1st connections on LinkedIn. Again, I know nothing about them. So what is the purpose of LinkedIn then? Can it really work if your "connections" are just a giant grab-bag of people you may or may not actually know, much like a Facebook or a Twitter? I feel as if finding someone who actually knows someone will be as difficult as landing an interview.
     All I can say is, forget about it. Job searches are stressful enough without trying to find a connection. The last thing I need is yet another step in the process, which may involve sending "InMail" to half of my connections with zero luck. I would suggest that LinkedIn add a level to their connections, kind of like a 1.5. AKA "I am connected with them, but I do not know this person well enough to make introductions." That would be nice.