# Question about Linkedin **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 7, 2014, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-linkedin/690270 "2014-06-07T13:38:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-linkedin/690270/1 "2014-06-07T13:38:15Z")
I’ve had a LinkedIn account for several years and requests from people to connect have almost always been from people I know professionally or from people that I have met professionally, even if only once at a meeting or something of that nature. I accept those requests. However, I have had a few requests from people I’ve never heard of. Is that considered to be inappropriate (or not) or is that sort of request (almost devoid of any context) seen as the reason for having a LinkedIn account? I really don’t have an opinion either way but I’m curious to hear your thoughts on the pros and cons on this sort of thing. Thank you very much ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-linkedin/690270/2 "2014-06-07T13:56:59Z")
That’s one of the ideas of LinkedIn- you can connect with friends of friends. So people you don’t know directly, but may be beneficial to know professionally can connect. It’s not “business Facebook”, but a way of expanding you contact list. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-linkedin/690270/3 "2014-06-07T15:00:18Z")
LinkedIn is yet another business networking tool, like Chambers and business associations, that primarily serve the churn and burn industries…insurance, finance, insurance, business construction, insurance… the gianter the circle of prey, the better for you. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-linkedin/690270/4 "2014-06-07T16:01:31Z")
I’m not on LinkedIn, but I remember reading somewhere recently that LinkedIn connects to your email contact list unless you do something-or-other to prevent it. Someone who’s more familiar can chime in. If you Google: gmail linkedin access you’ll get a bunch of hits about this. Here’s [one](http://community.linkedin.com/questions/56181/who-gave-linkedin-permission-to-pull-from-my-gmail.html). ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-linkedin/690270/5 "2014-06-07T16:26:49Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I’m not on LinkedIn, but I remember reading somewhere recently that LinkedIn connects to your email contact list unless you do something-or-other to prevent it. Someone who’s more familiar can chime in. > > If you Google: gmail linkedin access > you’ll get a bunch of hits about this. > > Here’s [one](http://community.linkedin.com/questions/56181/who-gave-linkedin-permission-to-pull-from-my-gmail.html). I get requests to connect to email but I always decline. It’s never done it automatically for me. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-linkedin/690270/6 "2014-06-07T17:47:44Z")
When LinkedIn was new, you could not link to someone unless you knew the person or were introduced through a mutual contact. When you got the request, you had the option to decline by saying you did not know this person. Now, LinkedIn has lowered the bar. They no longer recommend that you accept links only from people you know. That’s because now they charge money for premium accounts that allow the accountholder to see anybody’s profile. IME these accounts are held by recruiters and placement services who use LinkedIn as a way to make cold calls. I get a lot of these now. When I get a request from someone and I have no idea who they are, I conclude that networking with that person will be potentially helpful to them but worthless to me. I always ignore them. But it’s not inappropriate. It’s more like getting a call from a salesman who got your name when you downloaded a “free” white paper. Annoying, but that’s how business is done. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-linkedin/690270/7 "2014-06-09T20:23:28Z")
While I agree that most of the LinkedIn request I get from unknown sources are from recruiters, I have also seen what looks like LinkedIn connection collectors. People that for some reason or another just want a bigger number of “connections”. You see the same thing in Facebook. About 1/3 of the requests I get are from people in my industry, but someone I don’t know. There is no rule or etiquette that says they can’t do this, but there also isn’t any that says I can’t ignore them.