Should I Accept Your LinkedIn Invitation?

Recently I accepted a full-time position with one of my clients, the Digital Advertising Alliance, which makes me particularly happy to have benefits again, but I sure will miss my daily freedoms from the past six years.

Thankfully, I get to maintain a small stable of freelance clients that keep me busy at night and on weekends, too. And I enjoy uncovering new business opportunities for myself or to steer potential business to trusted colleagues in my field. Other folks have done much the same for me, a virtuous circle.

Obtaining a new job is one business happening that "triggers" marketing events of one sort or another. While I haven't made it yet to the C-suite (I can only imagine the triggers there), I'm getting my share of social check-in's, emails, not-so-many telephone calls, and a direct mail piece or two.

Since I updated my LinkedIn profile, a plethora of people I do not know have reached out to me asking for LinkedIn invite acceptances—but not stating anything specific or particular in their request of me. Please, take a moment and give a short sentence stating what we have or could have in common. I'm a PR guy, and I genuinely like getting to know people and how we can build bridges and do business together ... but I don't want the quality of my social network to become watered down. I wonder if LinkedIn has relaxed its rules for enabling introductions.

My normal protocol in response is to visit his or her profile, and see if there's an apparent fit to my professional life. Sometimes I discover it's someone I do know with a new or different surname (and I readily accept), but most of the time it's a complete stranger, with only imagined relevance. Is it me they're after, my position that intrigues them, or my employer's marketplace presence? It's always good form to keep your own profiles edgy and up to date for the inspection of others—and your invites to the point.