Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Networking Schmetworking



Network, social network, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn. . . Geesh, where's a person to go?

Is online social networking just as powerful as face-to-face networking?

Where are you spending more of your time - online or face-to-face?

What do you find more valuable?

Before the creation of online social networking were you a good face-to-face networker?

Has online social networking helped you become a better face-to-face networker?

In Austin there are so many groups to network with it simply depends on where you want to network and I have to imagine in larger organizations there's even more networking going on.

All questions on my mind today. Looking forward to seeing YOUR answers.

3 comments:

KrisRobinson said...

I am a better networker (face to face and otherwise) than I was before social networking. SN has helped me to see how connections are made and how valuable each connection can be!

Anonymous said...

What a great, great idea for a post!

It's funny, but I have equal benefit in both. In fact, I built a business off of online networking sites, only back then they were called message boards :). To me, they're one in the same, though I don't think many people realize it just yet. In the end, they will be communications platforms in my opinion, as they are now.

thomsinger said...

Online Social Networking is not different from "Networking", it is a tool. A subset. People confuse attending a face-to-face event with "Networking", but that event is not the whole thing, it too is a tool...a subset. Nametags are a tool. Business cards are a tool. A handwritten follow up note is a tool. No one thing is the silver bullet. They all are pieces of the puzzle.

I think that many hoped that online social networking would replace more traditional forms of networking, because networking is hard work. But all social networking does is give you another way to communicate with people. Networking still takes an effort to make, grow and keep relationships.