After having been an average user of social networking sites, I recently decided to step things up a bit. I became a member of a networking site within a networking site on the promise that I would have up to 500 more contacts by the end of the week.

 The promise definitely came true! I have been connecting with lots of people for the last week and I have a lot more then 500 new contacts. Now, for me that is good because I wanted to step up my visibility. However, had my goal been to increase my authentic contacts, this would have been, in hindsight, not a good way to do so. The first few days of being super connected I received around 200 connection requests per day. I found it hard to find both the time and interest to really investigate each one to figure out what we had in common and what I could do for them.

Still, I did do a language check, as the vast majority of my new and existing connections speak English so there is no language barrier when making a connection between them, and I fast-read all introductory texts. The latter actually prompted me to recognise a personal dislike I have generally, but also when it gets to online networking: Being given too much information!

 When you try to introduce your business, sell your services, talk about yourself and offer to help me in one long introductory message, you are giving too much information. Personally, I loose interest after the second paragraph and skip straight to the bottom. When I do occasionally read the extra long intros, none of which are specifically written to attract my attention, I am reminded that connecting using the super connected technique is a numbers game. There is nothing wrong with that, except that it leaves no room for authentic messages or background info.

 This is how I see making effective online connections;

Do use the super connected technique when you want to reach lots of people, but keep your introductory message brief. I personally really like the ones that are professional with a subtle hint of humour. When you make a promise in your introduction, follow up on it. If that proves impossible due to your online popularity, swap the promise with a little free advise, much more effective in terms of creating interest and curiosity, and much more likely to lead to further, potentially useful, contact.

 I would like to finish with a promise that I promise I will keep: when you want to get introduced to any of my connections, I will do so with a brief personal message.