Networking Spam

There is no law against people sending you networking email*. In most cases there is a relationship of some kind between sender and recipient, and the emails are not commercial.

Calling it spam is subjective. One man's spam is another's open networking. It's easy to say that anyone who sends you email or invitations you didn't ask for is spamming you. That's your right. You can complain to LinkedIn, which may then take action.

The fact remains that it's a big world out there. If you're participating in a social network you are opening yourself to certain kinds of contact. This intent of this essay is to inform you about networking users and the environment so you can make educated and reasonable decisions about how you send and respond to networking email.

You control it

LinkedIn provides members a high level of control in their contact. You have the option of having the system send mail and only accept invitations from people who are already in your address book. This can prevent a lot of unwanted contact.

User diversity

The online world makes it easy to send mail and even LinkedIn invitations. With millions of members LinkedIn member encompass a wide range of interests and skills in networking and LinkedIn use. There is a steep learning curve, especially for ActiveNetworkers, in proper use of LinkedIn.

Many users are new to networking and inexperienced in the use and etiquette of groups and email. It is a certainty that people will unintentionally act in an improper or negligent way.

• They upload address book and email into their LinkedIn contacts that results in a myriad of contacts that they then invite. But many of those contacts may not know or remember them.
• They hit reply to a group email or email with many addresses, which re-sends the email to the entire group.
• They hit reply to a long group email that unnecessarily sends the entire long message to the group.
• They see you are promoting yourself and your email address and assume that you are open to contact.

Your connections and contacts

Your connections and contacts already have your email address and typically use it freely to contact you for:

• LinkedIn updates
• Invite you to other networks
• Business inquiries

Your email address

Your email address is your primary line of defense. If people don't have your address they can't contact you. Be aware there are various ways they can obtain it.

• The person did business with you in some way, even if remote. It is typical for recruiters and networks to have tens or even hundreds of thousands of contacts.
• Your address was in an email as part of a forwarded message or group list.
• Your email address is publicly available, whether on your profile or somewhere on the Internet that can be searched.
• You participate in online groups or forums.
• You are a member of a professional, interest, or alumni group that shares contact info with other members.

Tips on dealing with unwanted mail

• Review and adjust your LinkedIn user settings to specify what kind of contact you accept and who can contact you.
• If you are concerned about receiving unwanted mail, connect only to people who know you well.
• Use a temporary address as your primary address, especially if you post it on your profile or elsewhere. If the address is abused, switch to a new address and notify your connections.
• Use email software that automatically and/or intelligently processes your email like Neo.
• Contact offenders directly. Most LinkedIn users are responsive and will stop sending unwanted mail or otherwise resolve the problem when notified.
• Contact LinkedIn Customer Service to break connections with contacts who have a different networking philosophy or are not responsive.
• As a last resort, contact LinkedIn customer service.

Tips on avoiding sending unwanted mail

• Be familiar with LinkedIn's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
• Review this page, as well as the ActiveNetworkersGuide, to learn proper networking use.
• If you regularly send updates, make sure your connections agree to them, such as through the PersonalNetworkingContract.

MarcFreedman

• This discussion does not address the U.S. CAN SPAM law.