LinkedIn Invitations – Why hitting I Don’t Know This Person is a bad idea

By Andrea Stenberg on 04/10/2010 – 4:24 pm PST -- Life Stages

LinkedIn is a powerful networking tool for business professionals. It is the preferred network for many people because the rules of engagement are more rigid and professional. No one is going to send you a mafia wars invite, nor will anyone post any weird photos from your youth. It’s just business.

While the rules (both formal and informal) of connecting on LinkedIn are what makes this site so useful for many of us, it also has its pitfall for those who don’t understand the nuances.

For example, when someone sends you an invitation to connect on LinkedIn you have three options: accept the invitation, archive it or “I don’t know this person”. What happens if you accept is obvious. If you archive it, the invitation just disappears into the ether – no real consequences for either party.

However, what many people new to LinkedIn may not realize is, there can be serious consequences for the inviter if you choose the “I don’t know this person” (IDK) option. You see, LinkedIn takes their rules very seriously. They know many members of LinkedIn use it as their primary social media site exactly because of these rules. They work hard to enforce these rules so the culture remains consistent.

So what happens when you click IDK on someone’s invitation to connect? LinkedIn tracks those. When a person hits five IDKs, their account is suspended until they get a verbal hand slap from the LinkedIn police. After promising never to do it again, most users have their account reinstated.

Why should you care?

Let me tell you a story one of my LinkedIn connections shared.

Rich Fiene, a marketing manager from Minneapolis-St. Paul, met someone at a networking event. A few months after the event he invited her to connect on LinkedIn. His plan was to ask her to quote on some work after they were connected.

“She IDK’d me which put me at five and sent me to LinkedIn jail,” he wrote. “After the fact I sent her a note reminding her again about where we met and included that I was going to get a quote for her services. Of course she was more than willing to provide me with a bid and wanted to connect! I told her I went with another connection and explained to her had she archived my invite I would have still let her bid but since she IDK’d I wasn’t interested in her service.”

Understand the Rules

For me this is a great story about why you should be an open networker on LinkedIn

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  • http://www.razchorev.com Raz Chorev

    Andrea, I agree you should never click IDK, as you never know…Right?

    As a high-profile person on Linkedin, I get a dozens of invitations, from people I meet, but also from people I never met, or had nothing to do with, prior to being invited. When the latter happens, this is my practice:
    1. I check their profile. complete? appealing? Where are they from – Local or from elsewhere?
    2. The invitation – personal or generic? Have they nominated me as a “friend”? Why?
    3. What are the chances of doing business? – As a Linkedin trainer, there’s always a good chance
    4. What can they offer me? What can I offer them?

    Then, if I can see a compelling reason straight away, I accept the invitation, and send them a “thank you for inviting me” note.
    If I can’t see a compelling reason, I’ll hit Reply, and ask them to clarify where have they heard of me from, and WIIFM (why I should accept their invitation).
    If their profile is incomplete, I’d normally send a link to a presentation I’ve prepared to help people complete their Linkedin profile easily.
    If they pick up the glove, I’ll be happy to connect.
    If they don’t – I archive them.

    I believe there is “credibility by association”, in Linkedin as well as IRL. Therefore I don’t accept people to my network automatically, only people I would be happy to be associated with.

    Raz

  • http://www.mjimenez.es/ Manuel

    Hey Raz, very insightful comment.
    I totally agree with you, there’s no harm in doing some research before accepting invitations, be it Linkedin or any other SNetwork.

    In fact it’s that research what builds up the connection.

    Plus it’s quite easy to identify those who only want an as populated as possible network “trolls”.

    I myself have some kind of lists going on in my social networking sites where I organize contacts by proximity.

    Thanks for your view Andrea.

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/janerubinsky Jane Rubinsky

    There’s another option you haven’t mentioned: just ignore the invitation.

    But don’t necessarily take being ignored as a rejection; sometimes folks just prefer to sit down and go though their invitations and accept all at once. I’ve had a few people accept my LinkedIn invitations two or three months later!

    I’ve only had one person IDK me, and I was scratching my head over that one … we were in the same class at college!

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