LinkedIn: The Strength of Weak Ties
Nowhere online is networking as explicitly obvious as LinkedIn, with its stated purpose being “To connect the world’s professionals [by giving] access to people, jobs, news, updates, and insights.” LinkedIn members often receive connection requests from virtual strangers. What is the best policy to take in reacting to these requests?
On the one hand, you stand to gain a lot from connecting with those outside of our closer network. As Mark Granovetter asserted in his influential 1973 paper, weak ties often grant us the most value, providing access to regions of a network that we would normally be hard-pressed to reach. On LinkedIn, a weak tie would translate to access to different companies, industries, and knowledge.
On the other hand, it may be wise to practice “stranger danger.” Some LinkedIn members may not have your best interests at heart, and may just be attempting to take advantage of you and your network. Even worse, he may be a fraudster trying to access your information for nefarious purposes. By accepting a stranger’s connection request, you give him implied credibility and your other connections will be more likely to accept his connection requests, following the triadic closure principle. This could magnify a rotten person’s impact.
The best solution is probably to be as accepting as possible, but first to screen those who request by inspecting their profiles and inquiring about their purposes. It would be poor practice simply to reject all requests, though, since a network without weak ties is significantly less powerful. And the purpose of LinkedIn is to network, after all!
http://www.comstocksmag.com/web-only/why-connecting-strangers-social-media-may-not-be-smart