And why would you like to add me?
I’m interested in accepting most people’s invitations to connect on Linkedin. But, I’ll admit, I’m left cold when I get the Linkedin boilerplate invitation:
Steve, I’d like to add you to my professional network on Linkedin.
Sorry, but I think that if someone really wants to add me to their professional network, it’s worth writing at least one original sentence. This is especially true if we don’t know each other; I’ve often clicked through to the profiles of people who have invited me to connect in this impersonal way, and been very interested by what I saw. Why not just introduce yourself?
And, if we do know each other, it’s still strange if someone uses the boilerplate. So we used to work together five years ago and you want to reconnect with me, but you can’t type, “Hi Steve, what are you up to these days?”
More connections on Linkedin is not better, more followers on Twitter is not better. Don’t sacrifice quality for quantity. (Look what happened to the advertising industry when they did that.)
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I think it’s mostly laziness to be honest…and I’ve been guilty of it myself on Linkedin! But you’re right – it really says you’re not that bothered about the person you want to link up with. It’s not personalised and, as you say, the advertising world has fallen foul of this approach. I like Seth Godin’s saying, “I’m not interested in e-mail, I’m interested in ME-mail”.
Steve, this one was hilarious. Sadly true, but hilarious. I wonder sometimes at the motivation of some of the people that sign up to follow me on Twitter. I suppose if you’re an exotic dancer with an interest in marketing and branding…???
Sometimes I think people use the boilerplate as the fastest way to start connecting with you personally. They don’t view it as a message they are sending you, but just another system to interact with.