I went to a talk a couple days ago wherein the speaker advised you to add everyone on Linkedin. Having been around a lot of executives who’ve complained about such a thing, I would advise you to, at the very least, limit it to everyone you’ve met in person. Even that might not be the right decision for some, and I wouldn’t begrudge you for not trying to milk every person that you meet as a contact for other people. Possibly, it won’t work, anyway, as the person will deny your Linkedin connection-making.
Plus, the way I use Linkedin is different from the aforementioned speaker. He advised contacting people cold, whereas I use legitimate connections I have to get a personal foot in the door with someone that I might want to talk to.
I also question the value of just having as many Linkedin contacts as possible. Sure, it widens your pool, but to what end? If you’re looking for a specific job, you can contact those people cold, anyway. Contacting them cold via LinkedIn gives no added value. The value of Linkedin is using legitimate connections to get where you want to, to talk to who you might want to talk to.
Some people who you should feel comfortable adding are your Facebook friends, but Linkedin doesn’t allow you to do that easily. Luckily, there are a few ways around this. One is through a Yahoo e-mail address. It’s a relatively easy process detailed by Calling All Geeks.
What’s your philosophy on Linkedin contacts? Who should you add? Who do/don’t you accept?
