I believe in the power of networking, as most opportunities in business, career and personal life come through someone you know, either directly or indirectly. If you sell for a living, the contacts you make can lead you to revenue; if you are in career transition, they can lead you to jobs. Regardless of your profession or career status, the people you meet can expand your horizons by introducing you to new ideas, resources and knowledge.

The meteoric growth and influence of LinkedIn, with 90 million profiles, has put networking into the mainstream. But along with the expanded opportunities to network online comes some responsibility to manage your connections — a.k.a. "hanging out with the right crowd."

Like it or not, we are judged by the company we keep, so just because you met someone along the way, or that someone has identified you as a prospective connection, doesn't mean you have to accept their LinkedIn invitation. In fact, to the contrary, you should carefully consider whether you will simply accept every invitation in the spirit of "who knows what might happen in the future" or if you should evaluate the invitation and cultivate links only to those who are aligned with your professional or career goals. Keep in mind that the contacts in your profile reflect directly on you, thereby either enhancing or potentially tarnishing your image.

Generally, senior-level professionals have senior-level contacts in their network, so accepting invitations from senior executives would be to your advantage. For that matter, accepting invitations from anyone who has influential connections would be advisable. But beyond that, you may want to add a measure of discrimination into your networking strategy. Is the person asking you to connect in an industry that is compatible with yours? Are they likely to have decision-makers in their contact base, or mostly vendors. Do they have impressive titles and a wide scope of influence? Are your connections too heavily weighted in one particular functional, industry or demographic direction? Are they likely to support and advance your business goals and personal brand? Are they — and/or their connections — in the mainstream or the fringe?

Open online networking is here to stay; more often than not it will be through the people you know that you find your biggest and best opportunities. But reputation management is also here to stay and is a reality of the marketplace. Recruiters go online to evaluate candidates, and they are sophisticated in what they look for, likely wanting to know not just how many contacts you have, but who those contacts are (did I say, the company you keep?). Customers evaluate salespeople based on their online profiles, and once again, if you are a salesperson wanting to be seen as a subject matter expert who is at the top of your industry, you will want to show that you are connected to top execs, and especially ones who are high profile in your industry.

The Internet is the vetting tool of choice. When it comes to LinkedIn, while your contacts can be helpful in enabling you to achieve your career and business goals, carefully consider if the invitations you accept help — or limit — your personal brand based on how their names look next to yours. Fortunately, when it comes to managing your reputation, it's one of the few areas on the Internet you can actually influence.

David Topus
David Topus leads ExecuNet's personal marketing services group, and is a nationally-recognized consultant and trainer who turns reputations into revenue by helping individuals and companies articulate their value propositions more effectively. He has been cited in national media for his communication and networking techniques.

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