How do you use LinkedIn?

[xela]

So, how do people use LinkedIn? I only send invitations to people I actually know and have had, in some sense, a work relationship with; I only accept invitations from such people, or from people the quality of whose work I consider myself to be reasonably well-informed about, via their reputation among our shared friends.

My rationale is that, if Zoe gets in touch with me saying there's a job at Yves' company she's interested in, and could I introduce her? I want to be able to honestly tell Yves either that I know Zoe's work first hand, and she's excellent, or that I know her work's reputation, and it's excellent.

This means I decline (or simply don't respond to) around 20% of the invitations I receive. But I keep hearing that the point of LinkedIn is to expand your network as much as possible. Am I being too conservative?

Comments

[narya.livejournal.com]

I look at it from the other direction. The question I ask myself is "Do I know Zoe well enough that I would give her an honest answer about what it's like to work with Yves?". I don't really worry about what I tell Yves about Zoe - I don't find that I'm using up much of my recommending capital if I say "A friend of a friend was interested in your company so I said I'd pass the resume along though I've never directly worked with her".

[nuclearpolymer.livejournal.com]

I would accept invites from anyone I know in a social or professional setting, even if that just means I met them at a conference. I don't initiate contact unless it's a person I want to contact because I'm lazy.

If later, a person I had only met asked me to recommend them for a job, I would read the job description, read their resume, and pass it along if it seemed reasonable. I would include a note saying that someone I knew was interested and here's their resume. To me, that is completely different than a note of endorsement. I sometimes forward several resumes for a position here, some with personal recommendations and anecdotes about how good the candidate is, and others with the minimal note that just says 'here's someone interested in position X'.

There's no need to treat every person the same, or offer the same level of help to everyone you know.

[bluedaisy.livejournal.com]

I don't think you are being too conservative. I accept invitations from people I know in a work context or whom I know well socially---including in "work" those I've seen do volunteer work or other large tasks that reveal their work ethic to potential contacts. My ability to help Zoe will be different if we worked together for years vs. were in the same chorus, but I will still be able to say *something* valuable about Zoe.