For me, the answer is, at the point I feel comfortable referring people to them. That’s usually after an in-depth meeting, or multiple conversations in a group event, but on rare occasion, it’s after a first meeting.

“At what point can I invite this person to connect in LinkedIn? MY ANSWER IS: whenever I want.”

I agree in theory. If I were advising a new LinkedIn user, though, I would have to say that as a general practice, automatically inviting anyone and everyone you meet at networking events to connect could be perceived by many as being too forward. It’s not a matter of what I or any other social media pundit says — this is the reaction I see from many mainstream business users.

Point is, it’s not just whenever you want — you really should be taking into consideration how the recipient feels about it.

Which is why I always recommend communicating first and asking people about connecting, before just sending them an invitation. It may occasionally be an unnecessary extra step, but it’s never a *wrong* step.

- Scott -

If Contact A finds Contact B of interest (maybe because of Contact B’s firm, industry, or skill set), then I need to know each contact well enough to comfortably introduce them. It would harm my relationship with either contact if the other did not turn out to be who he said he was.

That being said, I think one’s connections should be people that you know and trust, *and* people with whom you are *working towards* knowing and trusting. Anyone else is just slack making your connection count inflated.

When I am at networking events and am motivated to request a card from someone I’ve met, I always ask him/her if they would be open to connecting on LinkedIn. I find that a few minutes in that person’s company will definitely let me know if I’m interested in forming that connection with him/her.