I go to several networking meetings and occasionally talk moves around to LinkedIn and I am simply amazed at the number of folks who say, “I don’t accept invites because I don’t know those people.”  But, my goal is to connect with as many folks as possible because they might know just the person I am trying to reach out to touch-base with.  

Although LinkedIn’s premise is to limit connections to only those one truly knows, then why did they decide to allow 20,000 (or is it 30,000) connections total for each profile?  

How about you?  Do you accept them all?  Or do you only accept those you truly know?  Has this practice helped or harmed you?

I have an account but don’t even know my userid or password.  My question to you is how effective has it been for you?  Where is the first place YOU would go to get what you’re looking for.  I believe forums like this one are better for that.  Of course in my business I don’t need a network out there.  but when I was a consultant, I felt face to face networking worked a whole lot better.

@dawnboyer  I have a very long response I could provide to this but I’ll try to shorten it a little.  I have clients who say the same about not connecting with those they don’t know when they come to me to get set-up in Social Media channels.  So here is the shortened version of the response I give.

1.  The idea behind Social Media is to “make” connections with those you know and many new people you would likely never meet except through Social Media.

2.  Would you go into a local networking meeting and just approach those you recognize or would you go around the room and approach those you don’t know to find out about them and tell them about you?

3.  Whether you “hang out” more in the specific network where you think your target market is OR establish your presence in all the networks – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, etc. I strongly suggest you find and connect with the same people across all the Social Media platforms – when you post you will find that those who know you on LinkedIn are bound to connect to you on all the other platforms – “oh yea – I know that person from LinkedIn and they share good content and tips and participate in helping others – I’ll gladly connect with them in Facebook, etc.”.  This promotes the “know-like’trust” factor …… and when you do, naturally others connected with them will get to know you and ask for a connection as well.  And you will discover others through your connections and hopefully you can invite them to connect to you, thus growing your “community”.

At least, this has worked wonders for me and my clients and prompted referrals.

To answer some of the questions in the string:
1)  I have 6,500+ connections on LinkedIn and DO accept all invitations2)  I have turned my profile in LinkedIn into over ‘six figures’ – a very well-paid job approximately five years ago, plus consulting work since; so yes, it’s been very profitable to be on LinkedIn3)  I try to reach out and get folks to invite me – I pretty much used up my initial 3,000 invites in my recruiting position before I realized what I was doing, and while you can request more invites, and I’ve been told can gain 600 at a time if you ask nicely, pushing folks gently to invite me forces them to remember me a little more, as well as uses up their invites, and ensures they check out my profile.4) Trudy – go to LinkedIn and click on the ‘I don’t know my user name’ and try using any series of emails you think I might be.  If you used a work address in the past and no longer work there – you might have a little trouble getting back in, BUT scroll to bottom of the screen and there is a help desk link.  After reviewing the first set of potential ‘how to’ answers, a tab appears at top on third tab click to directly ask a question – use your ‘other’ email address and you might be able to get a CSR to respond directly with help.
5) The only folks I do not accept invites from are those who ‘naively’ use their business name as a personal profile name, but I take the time to explain to them they are doing it incorrectly and I will not accept until they fix the personal profile name.  Some folks have logos instead of face shots, so ignore that – they’ll get it sooner or later or LinkedIn will ‘freeze’ their account.  
6) Thanks to all who responded – DIane – Love your response!

Dawn BoyerLIONhttp://www.LinkedIn.com/in/DawnBoyer

On LinkedIn, I do as Diane does @dianebianchi

Since this is a professional network, I connect to everybody (except to suspicious accounts). You never know when a contact – or a contact’s contact – can be useful for you and it’s no harm to be connected.

On FB on the other side, I only connect to people I know. If they are interested in my professional profile, I prefer people to connect with (like) my company page to stay informed.

I connect with everyone who asks unless they look spammy, as PPs mentioned. I have “met” some amazing people via LinkedIn that I would not have had in-person access to. For me, that’s one of the main advantages – LinkedIn opens doors in a way that you simply can’t do by going to networking events. I always accept recruiter invites. They have huge amounts of connections, which then become your 2nd and 3rd level connections so that you can contact them directly. When I’m going to a conference or event, I use LinkedIn to figure out who else is going and try to connect with those people before the event. That makes the in-person networking at the event almost effortless, because the introductions are done, people know who you are and they are looking to talk to you when you get there. LinkedIn is and INCREDIBLE tool for any professional, no matter what your role. You just have to jump in and participate to figure out how it will work best for you. Every person I teach has instant results based on their goals. It’s amazing how many doors can open up.

@dawnboyer I am more picky about LinkedIn because connections have access to my email after linking. (Even though it’s probably easy to find via a Google search.) If I do not know them and a generic invite is sent, I will sometimes send an email asking why they wish to connect. Many do not reply so I hit “Ignore.” 

And I do not often tried to connect with SME Club’ers on LinkedIn unless it seems like a good fit.

While LinkedIn is a social site, I consider it a professional one so I don’t want to connect with everyone. I attend enough networking events, volunteer, join LI groups, have direct message conversations on Twitter, etc. to make “more real” connections with people.  I consider a connection to hold some value or promise to be a resource and therefore, understand that I cannot help everyone.

What many folks believe, undeservedly, is that LinkedIn is a site only for recruiters and headhunters – and that that is an undeniable aspect of the connections built, that is not true that it’s ONLY for recruiting.    If one is reluctant to join LinkedIn, hesitant to accept any additional connections (yeah, you can stick with your Contact Management Program instead), are don’t know how to reach out to develop relationships with folks on LinkedIn – yes – you are wasting your time.  But it’s just like Facebook – if you don’t put the ‘right’ efforts into it, you will not get the right results.  

I recently gave a class to a business and marketing development peer, and when he found out what he can actually do with LinkedIn- he took every single one of the tips I gave him and his business had doubled in the last four months – because he takes the time to develop the relationships on LinkedIn (as have I).    

Rich is doing it well – accepting all the invites once a week – and even responding with a short copy and paste friendly note.  Those folks will remember him when/if he needs to reach out to the community to develop business or obtain an answer.  Folks like it when someone pays attention to them!  

For me – the only ones I don’t respond to are those who create a ‘business’ profile with the ‘personal’ profile (and I send them notices that LinkedIn will freeze their account).  Many quickly ‘fix’ the problem and do it the right way, and I accept them because they are concious of doing it correctly.  

How do I develop all my connections?  I ask a truly intriguing question about once every two or three weeks, and I respond personally to every single person who answers, either thanking them or asking a more in-depth question, which opens up a dialogue, and makes them remember me.  IF they are not currently connected to me, then I invite them to send me an invite – and 99% of them do!

I love LinkedIn and used in-depth, and appropriately, you can make great headway into B2B development!

My most humble apologies.  please click on his Linkedin profile http://www.linkedin.com/in/dennisjpitocco   and take it from there.  He has several large business network groups and perhaps that is what you are looking for?Regards,Dan

I kind of wax and wane with LinkedIn, but recognize its huge potential. I met a gentleman last year who teaches people how to optimize their profile and effectively market their business there without being spammy. 

Probably like Dawn, he becomes the helper everyone needs to get their needs met and no one ever forgets him. I don’t know how large a first tier network can get, but I do know he has one of the largest on LinkedIn, with his 2nd and 3rd tiers reaching into the millions. He makes it a point to target certain key people who have contacts he wants and deliberately befriends them.

He changed my mind about LinkedIn, as I had seen it as more of a “job” site, too. He made me realize that it’s way more than that. Just haven’t gotten around to developing my “system” for handling it, though like others have expressed here, I usually accept invitations unless they look spammy or are totally unrelated to anything related to me or my business. 

Just yesterday I had to block someone whose ideas are soooooo outrageous and repugnant to me that I just did not want any association to what he represented. But that’s an extreme exception that I’ve never before run across on LinkedIn. Usually, it’s pretty tame and well-intentioned.

Regarding Social Media Examiner members… I ALWAYS accept invites from networkers here, as this site by and large attracts seriously professional people. The few who are not do not stick around for long, so I’d never have a problem helping anyone out here or on LinkedIn. I think I even mentioned I was active on SME in my LI profile, as I see this site as a real boon to anyone who needs to market or promote their business or professional goals.

@dawnboyer @rich-brooks @kc_kreative