These social media habits will keep you from accomplishing your professional goals

Ever since I fully embraced social media several years ago, I've been amazed at the power of different platforms--LinkedIn, in particular--to connect me with people I would have never, ever had the chance to meet otherwise.

I've also discovered my writing voice, honed my writing skills, and built a sizable following of people who seem to enjoy reading what I have to say about the topics that interest me most.

I've also seen how social media can--in the hands of some people--become a channel for annoying and even aggressive behavior that they would probably not exhibit if they didn't have the tools that allowed them to connect with others so easily.

Let's be frank: Social media endows people with tremendous power to connect and communicate with people around the world. But with power comes the responsibility to wield it in a civil, professional, and productive manner. 

Nearly everyday I see someone commit minor offenses on my favorite social media platforms. Sometimes they get a little nasty. Here are some examples of annoying social media habits that make some people look anti-social (names have been removed to protect the guilty):

1. Leaving snarky or critical remarks in blog post comments.

Healthy debate founded on facts and informed opinions is a good thing. Whenever I see people disagree with me in the comments, as long as they do so in a professional and civil manner, I let the comments stand. But I've also seen comments that were clearly intended to be negative attacks without a basis in fact, and with clearly ill intent. Sometimes I'll check their recent history of comments and see a clear pattern of such behavior. 

For such people, besides simply deleting their comments (if that's even possible), there are a number of things you can do to deal with them: Unfollow them, disconnect with or "unfriend" them, and even report them if it's truly offensive and violates the site's terms of usage. 

2. Asking for favors before or immediately after connecting with someone for the first time.

While I'm happy to connect with new people on LinkedIn, I continue to see some people reach out to me--immediately after I've accepted their request--asking for time to "pick my brain" about a topic, seeking introductions to people in my network, and submitting their resumes.

While I admire their courage for making such big asks, I'm usually unable to respond to them because I simply don't have the time to oblige their requests, and more importantly, I don't even know who they are. 

If you're going to ask for something from someone you've only just recently connected with through social media, invest some time in developing a positive series of interactions with them. Like, share, and comment on their content. Offer a bit of positive feedback about something they or their company have done recently.

This may yield nothing more than an exchange of pleasantries and a bit of goodwill between yourself and the person you're trying to build a virtual relationship with, but at least you'll have a more reasonable basis for making a request--when the time is right to do so.

3. Promoting your products or content in comments.

This happens often: A person leaves a comment on your post thanking you for sharing it, and then drops a link to one of their pieces of content. It's what I call "comment hijacking." Unless the link is to a truly relevant piece of content that adds to the discussion, I'll probably just delete it (on LinkedIn, you can conveniently delete comments to posts you publish in your feed, but you still can't remove the comments left on your long-form blog articles).

4. Putting people on your email list without letting them opt-in.

Some people think that by connecting with you on LinkedIn, you're giving them the permission to place you on their e-mail list so they can start sending you their newsletters. What they fail to understand is that e-mail newsletters require the user to explicitly opt-into your list. Anything else is considered spam and is in fact illegal in the US. I'm shocked by how many people still haven't figured this out and continue to sign me up to newsletters I have absolutely no interest in receiving.

5. Asking new contacts to share content.

I like to help friends out by sharing their content if it's relevant to the type of content I usually share in my feed, and as long as I have some relationship with the person. But some people I've never exchanged even a simple message with send me links to their latest blog posts with the expectation that I'll share them with my network. It's an intrusive request that I'm unwilling to fulfill. 

6. Tagging multiple people in a post.

I'll occasionally tag people in posts whom I know, and I usually call them out in a congratulatory or appreciative manner. But I do it very sparingly. There are some people, however, who tag multiple people they don't really know with the hope that they'll jump in and like, share, or comment on their post, thereby giving it broader exposure and potentially even making it go viral. Some folks might be okay with this--I'm not.

If you want to build constructive relationships and attract more qualified business leads through social media, avoid these annoying habits that can make you look unprofessional--and anti-social.

What behavior have you seen on LinkedIn and other social media platforms that annoys you? Share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments.

Thanks for reading! Please follow me or connect with me here on LinkedIn.

A version of this article also appeared on Inc.