An interesting article in inc.com suggests that you should ask yourself “11Questions to Ask Before Accepting a LinkedIn Invitation”.
My rule of thumb is that if I don't know the person, the company or organization they are with, or if the organization is not one that I think fits my general group of companies I want to work with then I probably don't want or need to accept their invitation.
So the reasons not to just accept any old invitation that comes along is that you'll start receiving all sorts of information that is not necessarily relative to you or even more dangerous you are very, you could possibly open yourself up to somebody that is trying to scam you.
So you will want to think about the parameters that you want to use, that makes sense to you, but if you feel you need a little more help than take a quick gander at the article listed above. It is a great is a starting place but is by no means definitive.
Inc’s Criteria:
| 1. Do I know this person? | 5. What is their industry and job description? | 9. Do they have any recent activity? |
| 2. Did they send a personal message? | 6. Where are they from? | 10. What does the profile tell me about the person? |
| 3. Who else are they connected to? | 7. Do they have any endorsements or recommendations? | 11. How many connections do they have? |
| 4. Does their profile have a photo? If so, what does it convey? | 8. Have they published anything on LinkedIn? |