I Am Not a LION (LinkedIn Open Networker)

I often receive LinkedIn requests from people I do not know, and I’ve always felt very uneasy about accepting them and connecting with someone I’ve never interacted with. 

On LinkedIn, I’m much more concerned about quality instead of quantity. I see our connection as a potential endorsement. I want to be able to speak about you should one of my contacts ask how we know each other. Just as I would want you to be able to speak about me!

I recently received a lot of invitation requests from people I’ve never met (because of this post). At first, I was unsure how to handle them–reject them? leave them unanswered? accept them? I didn’t know them, we did share a lot of similar values and some seemed like very interesting people. I then decided to shamelessly “borrow” an idea introduced to me by David Pullera: invite my new potential connections to an introductory e-chat, after which I will accept their invite.

This gives both parties the opportunity to get to know each other, and allows us both to say “I met so-and-so for a virtual coffee. We had a great chat, but I don’t know them too well” instead of “they invited me to connect, and I said OKAY.”

Since I’ve implemented this new procedure, I have chatted with a dozen or so new contacts (many, more than once) and feel like I am actually using LinkedIn for its real purpose: expanding ones network in a meaningful way. There’s no looking back now!

I still automatically accept invite from people I have personally interacted with.

I am very open to invites from people I’ve never met. Especially if we have enough in common, like:

• Common contacts
• Past employer
• Same industry (especially those just starting out)
• Similar interests

But now, they receive a request to meet for a brief video chat so that we get to know each other a little better before we officially connect.

Looking forward to more meaningful connections in the coming months!