When I connect to someone on LinkedIn, there’s a very good chance that person and I know each other (or could at least pick one another out of a crowd). That’s just one of my basic LinkedIn rules.

Another is that when I make a connection with them, I write a personalized note. If I really know the person in a way that I think warrants a connection, it seems the least I could do would be to take the opportunity to write my own note to illustrate that I care about the connection.

Lately, I’ve been getting a growing number of LinkedIn messages from people I don’t know that read, “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.”

Normally, those emails get moved to the trash. But every now and then, I accept one to see what happens.

To me, the only thing worse than getting a LinkedIn invitation with the default note from someone I don’t know is accepting it and getting no follow up. I’m left to wonder why this person every wanted to connect with me. I usually give them about two weeks and then I go in and remove them from my list.

Digital communications has unfortunately taken a lot of the manners and etiquette out of personal communication. (Which is ironic, because we all think our communication is more “personalized” than it ever has been.)

I’ve never understood the point of having a LinkedIn network full of people you don’t know. It serves no purpose and makes the entire tool worth much less.