I don’t often rant, but I’m about to. I’ve blogged previously about the importance of personalized invitations on Linked In … and yet … I still get invites that are canned. At least I can look at the profile to determine who the person is. I’d like to suggest, strongly, that personalizing Facebook friend requests is also highly recommended.
This morning I received a friend request on Facebook with no personal message and no way to determine who this person was because all of his settings were at the highest level of privacy. I didn’t know who he was nor could I glean any information from his info page. He was a nameless person who, for all intents and purposes, could have been unsavory. How would I know?
I sent him a very nice message stating that I was careful about who I friended and asking how he found me and why he decided to reach out to me. His response …
Delete the friend request. Too complicated.
Seriously? This from a professional? Too complicated to personalize an invitation to someone with whom you would like to connect? Where I come from, that is actually professional and courteous. If you're going to invite people to join you, give them a reason to say yes.