Random McSomeone has indicated you are a friend - Linkedin requests from strangers

I send a message back - asking politely / vaguely homourously when we met.. I can normally tell  by the answer if I have seen them.

Graham

 

Accept if they dont look too mental

Delete when they spam the crap out of me

 

It's really just a poor piece of terminology from LinkedIn. I'm precious about who I accept on Facebook, have no rules about twitter or LinkedIn at all, life's too short but most of all I WANT people to connect with me, that's why I bothered setting up the public profile in the first place. I don't require people to jump through several hoops of knowing, liking and agreeing first.

Also, on the LinkedIn app, where it suggests you people to connect with it used to default as 'friend' on the invite, not sure if that is still the case.

Danny, like you I don't understand why you would go through the process of setting up a profile and then not be looking to accept connections.  That is the whole point is it not?

The ones that say they are friends could be a genuine request to meet.  I will not connect directly with them but would send them a message stating my reasons and if they are still interested in connecting they would get involved on the groups etc...  Others that try to connect as friend are using the only other catergory they feel they can use as it does not need email address to connect.

It is the same as saying I am going to a breakfast meeting tomorrow but I am only going to talk to the people I know.  A bit limiting I think, considering I have got work from people I did not know!

Take a totally raw commercial view of the matter. If the person is a complete stranger, but is in a relevant field of work, and by connecting you will broaden the reach of your own visibility, then go for it. It's just business!

If, however, the potential connection seems to be of no value (and be careful about too swiftly writing off potential value), then politely decline. It's just business!

This does, a little go back to the underlying need to have a clear view of why you are in these places, such as linked in. Have a clear reason. Go work at delivering that reason. 

Thanks for the feedback folks, I did wonder reading my OP whether it came across as a bit of a Monday morning rant!

Glad I am not the only one faced with the dilemma. Some good points made. 

 

I must admit that I have been getting so many of these lately that I have been considering a quick message back, something along the lines of...

"Thank you for your invitation to connect but clearly you have absolutely no idea what you are doing in this place as there are lots of ways to forge connections with key people on here without using the very, very lazy friend option.

I suggest you take the time to search out the services of a decent social meeeeja advisor who will not only show you the error of your ways but provide you with clear guidance on how not to get people's backs up with a very clumsy and ill though through introduction."

Could be fun, what you reckon?

I used to be more wary if this but I've relaxed about it recently. I'm on there in order for people to be aware of my existence and then aware of my skills and expertise. Why needlessly restrict that?

I now work on the principle that I'll connect unless there's a reason not to. So if the person interests me I'll connect. I do seem to be getting a lot at the moment (mainly from random printers - thanks, but I've got plenty of print connections already, most of whom have bothered to interact with me at some point). It's a bit odd when there's no extended message sent with the request or shortly after connecting though.

The main thing though is that I've got two clients who initially connected in this way. No meaningful mutual connections, no obvious reason to link, and no introduction message. But both then approached me for quotes. Why rule out those possibilities?

Just about sums up my approach too.

 

Part of the problem is that some people don't understand how linkedin works. There are two types of these random connection requests.

1 - Those from total strangers 

2 - Those from people who have simply clicked the link when prompted to do so by Linkedin re 'Someone you may know'. When you click this Linkedin sends the bland connection request and indicates that the person has claimed to be a friend. That person doesn't even know the message has been sent by Linkedin.

I never accept requests to connect with strangers unless and until they explain why they want to connect. So if I don't recognise the name I send a cut and past standrd message back asking what prompted them to ask to connect and why they want to do so. They often write back and tell me. If they don't I prompt them once and if I still don't get a reply I archive their connection request.

Incidentally I have over 2,100 first level connections on Linkedin and yet I rarely get more than one or two random connection requests each day. I have explored why I get so few and why some people get so many. It may well be related in part to the groups you choose to belong to. You may also find that you can limit the random connection requests from strangers by editing your settings. (Click the link beneath your name, top right of the screen when in Linkedin. Then go through each of the settings and update them to reflect your choices.)

How do you remove connections from LinkedIn?

Go onto you connections page and there is a 'remove connections' option on the top right of the page. Click that and you can select who you wish to remove

I agree with Sam, often there is no other option than freind, the nearest one is oten freind. I was once told a stranger is only a freind whom you have not yet met? You never know who you are talking too so except and delete later if they just try to sell you. 

Check their profile and if you think there could be mutual benefit then accept them.  If not then you can always delete.  Never underestimate a possible contact...they may know others that could help you in some way.  It might just not be obvious at the time!

What I do ends up being similar to quite a few on here who generally green light any connection request. Let me tell you a bit about why I do this.

1. I started as a beta tester for LinkedIn. My ID is under 3,000 so I have been on the platform a long time. I have seen it change quite a bit. Anyone else remember when LinkedIn had 6 levels for connections? 

The point is my 'style' is based on the evidence as I see it. It is not based on a dictionary defnition or friend or anything similar.

2. When I am at an event and someone wants to trade cards I will do so. There is next to no harm in trading cards. Connecting on LinkedIn is largely the same. People are slightly closer to me or connected to me without a full commitment or marriage, etc. It is just a first contact.

3. Change tends to come from the edges and less so from the center. Folks I know well I do not need to be connected to. Folks I rarely see or who I do not know might become critical in the future. Why not continue to have a way to see what is going on out beyond the normal circle of friends? We all change jobs, move, start new projects or have a need for something. Having more people in your network makes it easy to search for specific things.

4. If someone really cares about being connected, LinkedIn will let them buy access to the full network. Cheap it is not. That said, it means that one way or another LinkedIn or Google will make it easy for someone to find you if they want to do so. If transparency is the trend, accepting connections is more likely to complement what is already happening anyway.

5. The most important reason for connecting to just about anyone is rarely will anyone bug you. I do not get SPAM from people and if I do I can terminate the connection. The Gmail SPAM filters also work pretty well. In other words, being defensive about who you connect to has little added value over just pruning the junk if it ever happens.