I was presented today with an interesting “moral dilemma” with regard to Business Networks, which got me thinking…
Let’s say that you are part of a business/social network, and that you receive an invitation to connect from a person with whom you do not want any connection what so ever.
What’s the “right” or “polite” thing to do? Decline the invitation? Ignore it? Somehow make it disappear from you list of invitations? Should you accept it just out of politeness?
I am not sure there is a text-book answer for this dilemma. Hence, I will share with you my practice in two relevant cases:
The first (and more straightforward) case is when you receive an invitation to connect from someone you don’t know, was not introduced to you by someone you do know, and does not provide a good enough reason for his request. I receive such invitations on a regular basis (mostly via Skype), and tend to quickly “decline” them (and even block the user). My underlying assumption is that in most of these cases the intent is malicious.
The second case is when you receive an invitation to connect from someone you do know (perhaps from years ago) or from someone who has been introduced to you by an acquaintance.
From my perspective, this cases in similar to someone approaching you in a convention. They may be acquaintances you vaguely remember or simply networkers doing some legwork. Chances are that you will never speak to one another again. However, the polite thing to do is to shake hands, exchange some small talk, and perhaps even exchange business cards.
In a similar manner, I would always accept the on-line invitation of an acquaintance or someone who is referred to me by an acquaintance. These sore of invitation have yielded concrete business for me in more than one cases. Moreso, in the remote possibility that any of my connections would abuse his welcome, by spamming or in any other way, I would always have the option to remove/block this user…
P.S. This is as good a chance as any to share with you the fact that my blog has presently accumulated more than 100 views. However, I am still waiting for the first comment, so…
I never decline invites (and must confess that I never get ones from people I don’t know). However, I would never accept invites of people if I don’t want them to be part of my network. I think it’s a little different from exchanging business cards, as your business cared will stay with just that one person, while online everyone knows you and that person are connected.