LinkedIn invitations

The Woodcock

I joined LinkedIn last year but it's only in the past couple of months that I've put a bit of effort into my profile and starting connecting with people. Lately I've found I'm getting invitations from people I've never met and I don't know from Adam. Some are in the same professional field and others are connected to people I know. Now if this was FB I would just ignore them. However, is there a different kind of protocol on LinkedIn as it is career related? I'm interesting in hearing other views on this.

miamee

Personally, if someone is in the same field, even broadly speaking, as me, I will connect with them. Why not? If I only connect to people I already know then might as well be on Facebook.

However randomers who I don't know, who haven't filled in much of a profile and who are not in remotely the same field as me, I ignore.

gugleguy

Hi, I am on linkedin.
Ok, this is how I proceed -

a) I receive an invitation.
b) I go to view the profile of the sender, and look at qualification, what kind of connections they have in their own right, and their own carreer
c)Based on analysis of the above criterion, I accept / reject the invitation.

The ratio of my acceptance / doing nothing is about 50:50 in my case

there you go.

biko

Some info here http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/social-networking/networks/linkedin3.htm
Myself I keep facebook for friends and a very few co-workers I hang out with privately.
Linked is for other co-workers and business contacts.

I never add people I don't know, but that's me.

The Woodcock

Interesting comments. There is definitely a different dynamic at play on LinkedIn where people are looking to make connections for self-interested career reasons rather than friendship. Ignoring an invitation could come back to bite you in the ass if you encounter that person in a professional context later on.

If I think a contact in LinkedIn could be useful to know in a professional capacity or if they are in a common industry, I will connect with them.
Otherwise, I ignore the request unless of course they have provided a good reason for wanting to connect.

Moofster

I almost always accept them... i just check if their field or occupation just to make sure.