I am always open for new connections on APSense and other networks; you never know where a new connection may develop in to. By connecting I can see what these contacts are posting in the live feed. If that peaks an interest I will read more after which I will often comment and even check out the program if applicable.

What I dislike is the fact that people where I am only connected to but had no interaction with, contact me through the APSense messenger and want me to visit some affiliate link or like a brand page or facebook page. I do not mind being interrupted in doing what I am doing by people I know well  however requests from people that are complete strangers to visit, like or join something annoy me. Especially when they are very persistent, I had no prior contact them nor saw them commenting on an any of my posts. Sometimes I ask "Why should I?" The answer is usually because "you are my friend".

I have many connections here on APSense and some other networks. A connection is in my opinion not the same as an associate, online acquaintance  and certainly not the same as a friend; I wrote a separate article about that.

I do have the chat messenger on usually because somebody may have a support question or somebody of my friends or associates not on Skype may need a quick response but with the increasing requests for likes I get from strangers I am sometimes tempted to switch it off. I think I am not the only one who get annoyed being approached by strangers to join or like things.

However I am aware that many of them are newbies in the field of social media marketing and do not know the difference between social marketing and social advertising. And that advertising on the wrong time and place does more harm than good. Many are unaware of the fact that they make a bad first impression by posting links and requests in chats and personal messages to people they do not know and have no relation with. So when I am not too busy I try to explain that to them. In most cases they just close the connection and move to the next connection. The few that listen and start reading and education them selves make it rewarding.