Don't get me wrong. I am not suggesting that I am so popular or so important on LI that massive amounts of people send me messages to get my perspective or advice. Rather, I have adopted the strategy of being what is called an Open Networker. The philosophy of an Open Networker, as I understand it, is that no contact is a bad contact. That the advantages of social media multiply if you accrue a larger network of contacts. While I never got caught up in the arms race that some LI open networkers get in, trying to have the most connections, I also have not hesitated to accept link requests from people with little or no obvious connection to me.
I have had the belief that a larger network would serve me best by giving me a larger pool of references and a greater resource of opinions when I have posted a query. While this proved true and useful when I was first using LI, as more of my "real" contacts have started using LI as a means of connection and communication, it appears to have become counterproductive.
So the question I pose to the blogosphere is this: which is better, quantity or quality when it comes to connections in social media. I realize that there are some differences between LI, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. I am interested in whether people have strong opinions, relevant experience, or a pithy comment or two regarding contacts in social media. What are the advantages to open networking? What are the disadvantages? I will be posting a link to this blog on all my social media sites (LI, Twitter & Facebook) I am hoping to be educated and enlightened by my open network!
