Minutes Regarding Connection Request Note
A networking platform prompts users to add a personal note to connection requests. Research indicates most notes follow three templates. The templates have been in use for approximately eight years.
Minutes: Connection Request Note Review Committee Informal, Undated
Purpose of Meeting
To review the current state of connection request notes on professional networking platforms and assess whether the note field is serving its intended purpose.
Background
A professional networking platform allows users to send connection requests with an optional personal note. The note field was introduced to encourage personalized outreach and reduce the volume of impersonal connection requests.
The note field is optional. A substantial proportion of users who add notes use one of three standard formulations.
Documented Formulations
Formulation A: "Hi [Name], I came across your profile and would love to connect and learn from your experience." Variations replace "learn from your experience" with "expand my network" or "stay in touch."
Formulation B: "Hi [Name], I noticed we share a connection in [Name of Shared Connection] and thought it would be great to connect." Variations omit the shared connection reference when none exists and retain the template otherwise.
Formulation C: No note. The request is sent without using the field.
Analysis
The note exists to distinguish the request from an automated request by demonstrating human authorship. The templates have become indistinguishable from automated requests.
A note that reads "I'd love to connect and expand our professional networks" contains no information about why this specific person is being contacted. It contains no information about the sender. It is identical in informational content to a request sent by a script.
The Governing Absurdity
The platform periodically prompts users to add notes to improve acceptance rates. Research cited in these prompts indicates notes increase acceptance rates by a material percentage.
This research was conducted before the templates became universal. The acceptance rate improvement measured a note against no note. It did not measure a templated note against a specific note.
Sending a templated note may produce the same acceptance rate improvement as sending a specific note. The acceptance rate improvement may therefore reflect nothing about the note's content.
Item of Concern
Several services have emerged offering to automate connection requests at scale, including note generation. The generated notes are indistinguishable from the manually typed templates.
The automation has made explicit what was already functionally true.
No Action Taken
The committee found no recommended change, as the behavior is stable and the platform shows no indication of adjusting the field to require specificity.
Meeting adjourned.