What do you do when you get an invite on LinkedIn?

There are 3 decisions that we can opt for

• Accept
• Reject
• No action

With ease to connect globally with social media platforms, it has open doors of opportunities for everyone present in the virtual world.

I recollect the days when I graduated from school and was about to come out of my shell and step into the outside world, very different from my Alma Mater, my homely surroundings (without any access to mobiles in those days). I was flooded with advice, guidance and guidelines on how to decide whom to talk with, whom to add to my friend list, how to be wary of interacting with strangers and much more. When I stepped into the Business World in 2002, I had the same flurry of advice in a little different context this time as whom to deal with, whom to associate with etc. Not once or twice but they were often reiterated to make sure that they were carved on my subconscious mind and I am sure most of them were out of concern. However, I sometimes wonder how mature I was to take them in the right spirit. I was an amateur in my mere 20s and I perceived them as taboos and not as words of wisdom although the constant hammering echoed in my ears all the time and did leave a mark on my mind. Nonetheless, I believe that you get wiser only when you experience it yourself.

In fact, when I gave a second thought and narrowed them down into actionable, I realised that those lessons actually helped me in taking decisions even in this Social Media Revolution. It helped me accept or reject my connections across all the social media platforms, how much ever old school or traditional they might sound. The sole reason being that the modus still remains the same. Only the medium has changed.

So here are the 8 key lessons that subconsciously make the decisions for me and may help you too to take wise decisions while making connections:

1. Why are you networking - It helps you to choose the right social media platform for networking. Today people use LinkedIn as Facebook because I understand this core question was never addressed by anyone before even starting to connect with people on any specific platform

2. What are you looking for from the Network? It is a very important question you need to have an answer to while connecting or accepting a connect as anyone who connects to you will have an agenda. Only if the agenda matches, so will you connect or else reject.

3. Do you have any reference or any connection from your past to authenticate the person trying to connect? It helps in initial decisions to accept or put on a hold. 

4. Know your connect - You may know your connection based on his/her profile and a superficial conversation or by reviewing their network. It’s a cakewalk today to check someone’s activities on social media.

5. Disconnect if not authentic. - In continuation to the earlier point, if any of the information you find to be questionable, do disconnect. It is also a social responsibility.

6. Connect, reconnect - Keep in touch. It is important not only to accumulate contacts alike in old times it meant accumulating visiting cards and friendship bands. Today it includes social media friends, connects and followers.

7. Build Trust and keep going. The key to any relationship is a trust that can be only built over a period of time.

8. Network is Net worth - Alike your investments, you must know when to change, when to opt-out of it if you feel there is a risk. Filter out the weeds.

Happy Networking!

Special Thanks to Vaidehi Oak and Bindi Sheth for editing.

#Networking #Connections #Filtering #SocialMedia #