Please dont flirt on LinkedIn

Please dont flirt on LinkedInPlease dont flirt on LinkedInThere are people who will tell you that you should use LinkedIn to flirt with women.Heres our much better advice Dont do this. Ever.Flirting on LinkedInisnt just counterproductive - it can come across as wildly inappropriate.Yetwe find thattheres still plenty of need to explain why you should never, ever - no, really, ever - use professional spaces to fish for dates.A piece in Wired today calls LinkedIn the ultimate dating site- even despitepublic discouragement like the Tumblr site Sexism on LinkedIn.Here are a few good reasons why you should think twice about asking someone to join your unprofessional network on LinkedIn.The other person is there for business onlyThere are social networks that facilitate dates Tinder and Match, of course, but even Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat have a mix of friends and casual acquaintances. Those are leid professional platforms.LinkedIn on the other hand, exists purely to make business connections. There are no video games on LinkedIn, no Words With Friends. Its bedrngnis a distribution policy for fun or to kick back. You should assume no ones there looking for romance, much less to be ogled.Its not a womens network or a mens network, or a locker room its a professional networking site, and so its reasonable to expect people to behave like professionals,Dawn Metcalfe, managing director of coaching and training companyPDSitold Ladders.By definition, if youre approached on LinkedIn, its an unwanted approach. It doesnt matter if its the guy of your dreams. Thats not what its for, Metcalfe told Ladders.As Metcalfe put it, you wouldnt negotiate a deal on Tinder, so why would you try to date on LinkedIn?Lets not get physicalA case out of London in 2015 demonstrates how very unwelcome romantic overtures can be on LinkedIn.Human rights lawyer Charlotte Proudman was 27 when married, 57-year-old lawyer Alexander Carter-Silk messaged her saying that her LinkedIn picture was stunning, and also said, you definitely win the prize for the best Linked in picture I have ever seen. Proudman posted screenshots of the awkward come-on, which sparked a lively conversation about casual sexism at work.She responded to him, saying, I am on Linked-in for business purposes, not to be approached about my physical appearance or to be objectified by sexist men.The eroticization of womens physical appearance is a way of exercising power over women. It silences womens professional attributes as their physical appearance becomes the subject.Proudmans story drew responses from hundreds of exasperated women with the same experience.Many women are all too sick of being evaluated for their looks rather than their accomplishments, and find it demeaning to be reduced to their physical characteristics.Men have weighed in on the matter too Lets get one thing straight, guys It does not matter what words you use, if youre reaching out to a woman on LinkedIn, there should be absolutel y no non-professional content in that message. No matter how gleaming your endorsement of her physical features, she does not want to hear that from you on LinkedIn. Its called being suggestive. Many men seem to think that if youre not being overtly sexual, everythings cool. Its not, wrote marketing director Eric Martinon LinkedIn.Why did Martin write the piece? Someone made advances to his wife on the social network.Making assumptionsStraight men who use LinkedIn to score a date assume that women will be attracted to a mans money, not his personality. Its a common mistake to believe that money and ambition also guarantee a date. On the contrary, many women accomplished enough to be on LinkedIn are unlikely to be impressed by flashy shows of status.Metcalfe told Ladders about a time when she was approached by a man in anightclub who came up to her and said, I have a Rolex. Wanna dance?She said that the fact that he used an expensive watch as the only reason why she should want to da nce with him is where he went wrong. It would be similar on LinkedIn you cant buy someones affections, and most would be insulted that you tried.Burning bridgesUnlike Proudmans case, most straight men who approach women on LinkedIn dont get publicly called out. Women who are approached on the platform tend not to anthroponym and shame because theyre fearful of burning bridges, Metcalfe said.Itscommon for people to tell a woman speaking out about a man coming onto her on the site that its inappropriate, the guy was only giving you a compliment, or to ask, whats your problem? she said.Public embarrassment is not the only penalty, however. Inappropriate advances will be come out eventually and will hurt anyones professional standing anyway. Consider not hitting send on that invitation to flirt.