Imagine my shock when I attempted to invite someone (who I did not know) to join my LinkedIn network:
Huh?
LinkedIn’s mission is explicit to “connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.” I suppose productivity and success can occur when people already know each other but can’t that also happen from spontaneous and impromptu connections?
Numerous op-eds and best practices are out there about why you should befriend strangers and how to do it.
Then again, maybe I’m not being reprimanded for reaching out to strangers but because those strangers opted to mark a box that they didn’t know me. They could as easily ignored my request and I’d never have seen this pop-up warning. And — if so, that begs the question why THEY are on LinkedIn. To only connect with their Facebook friends?
The irony is I always personalize the invitation text if I know they don’t know me. That gives them an out. But they didn’t know me so the warning count piled up…
I’ll play by LinkedIn’s rules, though. First, I pledge to not invite people I don’t know (without connecting elsewhere in advance, such as a LinkedIn group or on Twitter). Second, I’ll contact LinkedIn to inquire if the warning count can be removed and reset. Third, if you and I are not connected there, click here and join my network.
