Almost every day now, I receive requests for connections on linkedin. I think linkedin is a wonderful tool…but people don’t respect some basic rules.
Actually these are common rules. When you meet someone at a networking venue, do you say “I would like to connect with you?”. You start a proper conversation, and explain why you want to connect with her.
On linkedin it is exactly the same, 90% of the time I receive that: “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” (or in French as now there is a French version of linkedin!).
People are not bothered to put a proper personal message, at least saying Hi, and explaining why the connection request.
It is so annoying…linkedin used like that seems to be mass connection competition. Some people seem to think: “oh he looks interesting, let’s connect”(or “oh I just lost my job he looks interesting”).
No personal message, no Hello, nothing.
I don’t know what to do in that case…sometimes these are interesting people. Should I accept or just leave it?
On linkedin you have a group of people called the LION (Linkedin Open Networkers) who accept any connection requests. Their thinking is: “the more contacts I will get, the more companies and new people I will be able to access”. It is a clear move of quantity over quality, I respect that choice even if I think that I am not sure how strong the links can be in that case. What happens if a LION asks someone on his network (someone he does not know at all) to connect with a particular person?
Anyway connecting on linkedin should be made with a personal message and not using the by default one! People need to follow the rules of physical networking…What if you receive an email from an unknown person asking to be your friend?
How do you react? You would expect at least something personal, not just a click on a button send and hope for the best.
Let me give you an example of a personal message I received the other day:
“Enjoyed your blog … I work with French executives frequently (as a consumer research consultant). You seem like an interesting person, would you like to connect on LinkedIn?”
or
“I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.”
Which one do you think is better, more focused, more targeted, personal and talking about the person (as people don\’t care about you, you need to talk about them…this person mentioned my blog and other things, she clearly understood how to craft a personal message).
People think that linkedin spares you from respecting some basic rules….but no.
Why do you think your connection request has not received any response yet?
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