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Ask HN: Do you connect with people you don't know on LinkedIn?
Hi,
I have this principle about social media in general: I don't connect with people that I don't know. On LinkedIn, this translate as rejecting people I don't know or I've never done business with.
I started to think that my stand on this issue might be defeating the main purpose of using LinkedIn. What do you think? How do you manage your LinkedIn connections?
- mindcrime 13y agoYes, I accept LinkedIn connections from almost anybody. The few exceptions are obvious spam profiles (profiles with clearly fake names, no picture, no connections, etc.) But anybody who appears to be a real person, I'll probably connect with. Why? Because I take the attitude of "You never know how a connection may be beneficial" and "everybody has something to contribute to everybody else". I also try to practice "pay it forward" and will usually do things to assist people (like making introductions or sending referrals on LinkedIn) without any expectation of any sort of compensation or "quid pro quo" stuff. I figure the "good karma" will loop back around eventually, one way or another.
- yawz 13y agoThanks. I think it's a good way of looking at things. I might just practice the same from now on.
- chrisbennet 13y agoI only link with people I know. This articlehttp://www.brelson.com/2011/05/how-recruiters-are-posing-a-threat-to-linkedin-even-though-they-dont-mean-to/ http://www.brelson.com/2011/05/how-recruiters-are-posing-a-t... explains why you might want to be choosy. "The general principle is that, if you’re connected to more than a couple of recruiters, searching LinkedIn will turn up more and more people who are second degree contacts, but that you only know through recruiters. The value of someone being a second degree contact slowly declines, because when a recruiter is the common contact you learn nothing more meaningful than that you both once looked for a job, or once tried to hire people."
- JSeymourATL 13y agoDepends on how you want to use Linkedin-- smaller networks might make sense if you rely on it as a default contacts manager. Good rule of thumb, if someone actually takes the time to personalize an invite, you can more easily weigh the merits of that new contact.