If you have read my earlier blog on The Do’s and Don’ts on LinkedIn Invites, this is the follow up. If you don’t have time to read the original post, the premise was that using the default ‘I’d like to connect with you on LinkedIn’ is dreadful and downright deplorable behavior. I know plenty of people that will immediately discard a LinkedIn invitation if it is not personalized.
What I didn’t know at the time of the original post is that if you use mobile devices and the LinkedIn apps created by LinkedIn that you CANNOT customize the invitation to connect. The default message of ‘I’d like to connect with you on LinkedIn’ is the only option. Even worse, the apps don’t warn you. When you invite a person to connect on any app, be it for iPad, iPhone, Android, once you hit the ‘Connect’ button the default greeting is used and sent instantly
So, be warned that using the standard mobile apps is a disingenuous way to connect with other people on LinkedIn. Under no circumstances should you ever use the standard message. Always tell people how you know them; from a networking event, a LinkedIn group, a shared connection. Also tell them why you want to connect; what is in it for both of you.
To me and many people that I know, it is downright rude not to connect on a personal level. So, the moral of the story is not to use mobile apps to invite people to connect on LinkedIn.
PS – If you are surfing on your mobile device and do find someone that you want to connect with, email yourself the page link and make the connection on a real computer.
PPS – You can withdraw an invitation if you do it quickly, but only from a brower. How do I withdraw an invitation to connect?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Using the default invitation is fine. The point of Linkedin is to connect with people you already know. If I receive an invitation from somebody I don’t know I ignore it, or ask why they want to connect.
I use linkedin to help friends and colleagues connect. If they ask me to help with an introduction to somebody I am connected with, and I don’t know them, I look daft!
Paul,
The default invite from a “true” friend/business colleague is ok. What about someone in a networking group that you met once and haven’t seen in years that most likely help? I want to know how we can help each other and just because we met once doesn’t count as “reconnecting”. I will also say that I have gotten some great connections from LinkedIn that have blossomed and even turned into clients. As long as you make an effort to truly network, it can work.
Thanks for the comment – Michelle