6 Reasons For Refusing LinkedIn Invitations

Posted by globalcopywrite under Social Media
From http://www.globalcopywriting.com 5172 days ago

I've been getting a lot of invitations to connect with strangers on LinkedIn. I take the trouble to reply to these requests and politely refuse the invite. Last week I got a snide reply back accusing me of not understanding how to network. That experience informed this new blog post.

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Written by globalcopywrite
5172 days ago

Hi Shawn,

Very sage advice, thanks for the feedback. I've been using LinkedIn almost since it's inception in 2003 and things have definitely changed in the social media world since then. And while LinkedIn is social, to an extent, I do consider it to be much more rigid in the parameters for how you behave and connect with other people.

I think your question about "What am I hoping to accomplish" is terrific. For awhile I was a little unsure about how my LinkedIn network should behave. This post was a way for me to say, definitively, how I think it should be managed.

I always encourage people to follow me on Twitter which I consider a truly open network.

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Written by ShawnHessinger
5172 days ago

Interesting set of rules...with qualifications. There are definitely reasons to refuse LinkedIn invites (and Facebook and Twitter requests to connect or follow back for that matter) and it all kind of depends what you are using these particular networks for. An example of this would be that if you use the LinkedIn status update function like the updates on Facebook and Tweets on Twitter, than your aim may actually be a larger network since you are potentially communicating across that network to all members each time you update. On the other hand, if you have social connections in only one business or tight industry, you will want to be much more selective about who you invite. I think the biggest mistake most people make when using social networks is not coming to a clear decision when you start about your objectives. I disagree with one assertion. LinkedIn most certainly is a social network. But it is very different than, say, Facebook, Twitter etc. The question to ask is 'What am I hoping to accomplish.' The answer should tell your what connections to include.

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