Lately, I seem to be getting a lot of connection requests on
LinkedIn from people I don’t know (haven’t met, emailed or interacted with in
any way that I can remember*). I generally don’t connect with people on
LinkedIn unless I’ve met them in person and worked with them a bit (or at least
substantially interacted with them online), but that’s just me. Some people try
to connect with as many people as possible, thinking this is somehow
‘networking’. Maybe if I were a recruiter I’d try to acquire as many contacts
as possible, but as it is these strangers would just clog up my LinkedIn stream.
So I press the ‘ignore’ button. A lot. It makes me feel a little guilty – kind
of like slamming the door in someone’s face. But these people aren’t even
trying. They aren’t introducing themselves or saying why they’d like to connect
with me. Just a message that essentially says “Hi, you don’t know me, but please
click this button.”
And while I’m being cranky about newfangled social media,
what’s up with Facebook not letting me follow a link to an interesting article
without giving them permission to tell everyone on the planet** what I’m
reading. I’m not interested in telling
you about that and you shouldn’t be so interested in what I’m reading. What’s
wrong with you, anyway?
So, back to LinkedIn. If you want to connect (and I don’t
already know you), just tell me who you are and what you’re looking for.
Despite what my friends say, I’m pretty nice and I might just help you out.
*I am much older than my 41 years suggests, so perhaps it’s
just dementia. If so, please just ignore this post. Who stole my socks?! It’s
cold in here. I like pizza.
**Yeah, that’s right. I’m selective about LinkedIn, but on
Facebook I’ve friended everyone on the planet.
