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Good post. It's actually pretty clear this is in the design though. I don't know of any languages where "connect" means "send email (including to people you may admire professionally but only met once in your life, if that". The "+" might be the only thing keeping that button away from complete misrepresentation.

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Most of the time on Linkedin, you can write a little text when you add someone. You click add, then you and write something like "We talked at x about y and I liked our conversation, let's connect."

I understand, but at this point you'd expect some sort of intelligent flow in the platform. You definitely wouldn't expect to have an adversarial relationship with it, which is exactly what happens when they take advantage of your trust in their UX. Why would "+connect" imply sending email invitations? If they re-purpose terminology they should be very clear about it, to the point where it's understood. I'm not shooting down the concept or the content, but it becomes immediately clear where they're coming from, to their detriment.

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