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LinkedIn Expert Asks: Glitch or Another Way to for LinkedIn to Restrict its Own Growth?

Categories:

LinkedIn Inviations, LIONs, Networking, Social Media Strategies, Social Media Strategists, Uncategorized

August 17, 2009

Oops – they’ve done it again. LinkedIn has taken away another one of its tools that helps people to connect. Was a time (like last week) you could send a customized invitation to an individual (you can still customize an “imported contacts” invitation). That meant just in case you didn’t know which John Smith you were connecting to, you could write:

“Hi – we met at Joe’s Bar and Grill and had that great discussion about LinkedIn. I forgot to get your business card, but would love to connect to you. Please accept my invitation to be a part of my LinkedIn Professional network. If this is the wrong John Smith, please archive this message. Have a great day.”

Ah – but now that little “custom invite” button has been removed from an individual invitation – if you don’t have their email address – and we can only send the default “Please join my professional network on LinkedIn”. Where we met, how we know each other, the fact that I admire your work…. No longer can we say these things to prospective contacts we want to connect with. Sigh

What does it mean? Who cares if I just have to use the default text? Well, chances are the people you send a default invitation to – unless they are LIONs or know better, will IDK you. That means they will click on the button: ”I don’t know… Joe Shmo” and YOUR ability to utilize LinkedIn will be restricted. Once again – limiting the use of an awesome tool and making it not as valuable.

So seriously – why would you do something to inhibit the growth of your membership when the worth of your social media company is exactly correlated to the number of its members?

And the answer is…. Well, I’m sure the party line is that they don’t want you connecting to anyone you don’t know on LinkedIn. (Which makes me ask – then why not stick to Outlook?). My cynical self expects it’s because they want to drive people towards their paid account so that you have to use InMail and upgrade to 15 Introductions. But maybe I’m just cynical.

What can you do? I would recommend seeing if you can contact the person you want to invite FIRST through a group. Right now (although this is likely to change too) you can send an invite or message to anyone you share a group with. You might look at groups like Invites Welcome, LIONs, TopLinked and OpenNetworker to connect to a bunch of people. Also choose groups that support your industry, and groups that support the industry of people you want to connect with (clients, employers, contracts, employees).

It takes longer, but you are less likely to get IDK’d AND it’s a good way to create a meaningful connection.

So there you have it… today’s “What were they thinking?!?” or WTF!?! Moment.

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Tags: Add new tag, LinkedIn, LinkedIn Expert, LinkedIn Inbox, LinkedIn Invitations, LinkedIn Open Networker, LinkedIn updates

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Permanent link to this article: http://linkedintobusiness.com/linkedin-expert-asks-glitch-or-another-way-to-for-linkedin-to-restrict-its-own-growth/

Social Media Strategist and LinkedIn Expert shares tips on growing a network

Categories:

LaMBs, LinkedIn, LinkedIn Connection Tags, LinkedIn Expert, LinkedIn Inviations, LIONs

May 18, 2009

by VivekaVonRosen

May 18, 2009

By BRIDGET CAREY AND NIALA BOODHOO

poked@MiamiHerald.com

Viveka von Rosen considers herself a promiscuous LinkedIn Networker: She always says yes.

The LinkedIn strategist is what’s called a LION, which stands for LinkedIn Open Networker. Out of her 5,500 (now 7000+) connections on LinkedIn, she estimates she personally knows only about 10 percent of them.

She runs the site linkedintobusiness.co m and is chief social media officer at Integrated Alliances in Colorado.

We came across von Rosen and the term LION last month when we saw her promote a chat for social media enthusiasts on Twitter. But connecting with thousands of people you don’t know seems like it’s against everything we stand for in this column.

By being a LION, however, von Rosen has access to more people to promote her events. She says sharing on LinkedIn is like dropping a pebble into a lake: Having about 5,500 connections is like having 15 million people in her network.

Here’s the key: She doesn’t contact each person. She describes that as ”absolute abuse.” But if she’s looking for a speaker for her events, and finds someone who is related to a direct contact of hers, she doesn’t hesitate to reach out.

Many people don’t want to connect you to their contacts. But von Rosen increases her chances by providing as much information about herself up front. The more open and detailed the message is, the better. And she has learned that telling someone you want to connect because a friend wants a job is also not very enticing.

By connecting with a super-user like von Rosen, you’re more likely to get in touch with a helpful source you never met before — but a LION probably doesn’t know the connection well enough to help make introductions. We realized that we fall into the category of ”LAMBS,” i.e., ”Look At My Buds.” LAMBs are people who actually know all of the connections in their network. And combining the power of a LAMB to a LION can sometimes result in a useful connection.

But she warns against being a LION just to spam your contacts.

”Don’t be a salesman,” she said. “Nobody’s going to buy from you if you’re going to be That Guy.”

Like us, von Rosen thinks the best way to make new connections is to give and offer help and services to others. And if you want to promote things, use LinkedIn’s tools to post an event or send a message to your network. ”Being a LION is a privilege, and treat it as such,” she said. “Don’t take advantage of your contacts. They’re precious. They can be an avenue to great riches.”

Whether you are a LION or a LAMB, you can send us your social network questions and concerns at poked@MiamiHerald.com or check out the blog at http://miamiherald.typepad.com/poked.

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