"Bringing people together is awesome. But like most social interactions there are unwritten rules. First Round Capital partner and superconnector Chris Fralic..."

Key excerpt...

• Always ask "May I?": Fralic says to first ask permission from the parties involved before you fire off that connecter message. Why? "This makes it a choice for the recipient and doesn’t create an obligation," he says.
• Be personal, not lazy: If you don't know these people well, then at least do a bit of good-natured Google-stalking before you pelt them with generalities and requests. While in the days of handwritten letters it might have come with the inky territory, you should make sure your recipients know that you are writing for them, not some generalized nonperson.
• Tell them why they care: In journalism we call it a nut graf--the paragraph that's the heart of the story. The reason that you care. An email will be (or should be) shorter than an article, but you still need a few sentences for why your reader cares and what's in it for them.
• Prompt with presentation: Take the time to distill your message. Then, as Fralic says, bold your ask, underline key words, and put your links in your words. This is hypertext, after all, and spilling HTML across the page looks sloppy.
• Respond tactfully: Give the other person some room to breathe, Fralic says. If you're being introduced via email, don't inundate them with another message two minutes later. It gets a little overwhelming.
• Close that loop: If someone's taken the time to introduce you to a contact of theirs, the least you can do is keep your karma clean and let them know what came of the connection.