Thursday, March 20, 2008

No, you are not a valued "Contact"

A curious thing happened to me today. I got a connection request on LinkedIn. Obviously it isn't the request itself that was interesting. It was the combination of the request and who it came from.

I haven't had a single positive experience with this individual. I have found them to be extremely rude and unprofessional.

So, why would they ask to connect to my network? Obviously they've just joined LinkedIn and have selected everyone that listed the same employer.

Tip: When you join a social networking site, don't do that.

However, it leaves me with a dilemma. This individual is pretty senior in the company.

Do I click "Accept" and hope to gain more value from their connections than I lose by having their stench rub off on me?

Do I click "Reject" and let them know that what I really think of them?

I think I'll go with the third option, and click "Archive", stashing them with all the other people I don't like. Someone else in the company that I am connected to will click "Accept", so I'll still have access to their connections, and their stink will be at least one level removed.

Ah, social networking.

2 comments:

Damian said...

I like the ones from people I don't know who leave the default message on: "because you are someone I trust". They get ignored.

I'm dying to know which person you are talking about, but I think I can guess. They haven't even tried to link to me, because my feelings for them are well-known and well-expressed. Regularly.

Determinist said...

Screw it - just reject them. What's the worst that can happen?

Do you really think these people are actually going to get you any browing points because you've added them as a friend? Not likely.

The worst for me is people who link to you just to spam you with the same stuff you're already getting from other people - this is the worst in facebook.