You’ll know that I’m a big fan of using LinkedIn to develop your business, and you’ll see from my profile that I use it a lot to keep track of all the lovely people I meet and want to stay in touch with.
Because I find LinkedIn useful, and pay attention to what comes through from my network there (I even have a special folder for their emails), I find it particularly annoying when people spam me. Recently, I’ve received a rash (I think that’s the correct collective noun) of invitations from people I don’t know, inviting me to join them on LinkedIn. I click through, thinking that I must have forgotten someone’s name, but no, it’s either someone completely random, or it’s someone who is connected to other people I know, but I’ve never met this person. I’ve been trying to figure out why this is - forgive me if this is me being a bit slow, but I’ve finally figured that these are either:
People trying to get a look at my address book. On LinkedIn, you have to have your connection accepted before you can see someone’s contacts, so these people are pretending to be my friends, so they can take a sneaky look at my real mates. This one made me say naughty words out loud. I’ve spent years building up my social capital, and I’m not going to just give it away so that these lazy people can spam everyone.
People who have been recommended by LinkedIn’s software that they might know me, so they send me an invitation to join them. I’m not swearing so much about these people, but I do wish they’d read the instructions before pressing the button. It says, "you might know Julia", not "this is a good way to meet Julia". If you want to meet me, send me an email, or ring me up (especially, but certainly not exclusively if you think I might be able to help your business).
LinkedIn explicitly explains that you should only invite people you know. And if you invite too many people you don’t know, you’ll get banned.
LinkedIn is just a networking tool
LinkedIn is there to help you to network - it’s just a tool. It doesn’t do the networking for you - it doesn’t build relationships unless you already have a real relationship with that person. Otherwise, they’re just going to think "who the hell is that?" And when you’re trying to build a personal brand, that’s the last thing you want people to think.
So don’t be lazy - get out there, meet people, make friends, and stay in touch with people. That’s networking. Adding lots of people on LinkedIn that you don’t know is like stamp collecting, but less interesting.
Other articles about how to use LinkedIn for business
A guide to using LinkedIn for business - the starter’s version
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