A Little Help from Your Friend (Requests)

A Little Help from Your Friend (Requests)A Little Help from Your Friend (Requests)Steps to begin using social networks in your job search.Once you decide to take the plunge and create a great profile that reflects your personal brand, the real value is in the connections that you make. So, how do you determine with whom to connect, and whats the etiquette for doing so?Here are some tips on a conservative approach to getting started. To get you mora comfortable with personal branding, follow these tips for connecting with others on LinkedIn and Facebook1. Avoid importing your address book.When youre getting started, avoid options to import your entire e-mail address book and invite every one of your contacts.On LinkedIn Send invitations to colleagues that you know, trust and would be comfortable referring to other members of your network (especially considering referrals are the main value of LinkedIn).On Facebook Begin by connecting with your real friends and family. Since Facebook i s more personal and your friends affect your Facebook profile (they can write on your wall, tag you in photos, send you virtual commodities and so on, try it out before connecting with professional colleagues.2. Customize your requests.When you send an invitation to connect, customize the form e-mail unless the recipient will immediately know why you want to connect with her.3. Be selective.Decide from whom youll accept invitations and create standard responses for declining an invitation. If you get a request from someone you dont know at all and they do notlage even bother to customize the message, then its perfectly acceptable to use the Ignore button. Here are a few examples of templates to considerExample A Someone youve met once (or never) sends you a request on LinkedIn.Thanks for sending me an invitation to connect on LinkedIn. Im sure that you can appreciate that my policy is to connect with people that Ive met face-to-face and have known for a while. Im looking forward to working with you and getting to know you better, and Im confident that well connect in the future.Example B Youve decided Facebook is for personal use only, and a colleague sends you a request.I got your invitation on Facebook and wanted to let you know how Im handling my Facebook account and why I wont be accepting your request, even though I do consider you a friend and valued colleague. So that I may communicate without concern and share photos of my family, Ive decided to keep my Facebook network private, small and purely social for the time being. Id be delighted to connect with you on LinkedIn.4. Remove a connection if you have lingering doubts.If you accept an invitation and later regret it, you can always remove the connection without the other party being alerted. (Take care when using the LinkedIn I dont know or Flag as massenmail buttons because this could get the sender in trouble with LinkedIn.)5. Should you connect with your kids?If your high-school or college-aged chi ldren are on a social network such as Facebook, realize that many parents elect not to friend their children. Some take an ignorance is bliss view, some are concerned about the impact that their kids have on their profile, and others are respecting the wishes of their kids.After spending some time experimenting, your comfort level may increase, and then you can re-evaluate your connection criteria against your goals for each social networking tool that you use. Dive in When you adjust your privacy settings, you really have nothing to lose, and you might just find yourself surprised at what you gain.