Putting "Online Networking" Into Perspective by Guest Blogger Josh Hinds

Josh Hinds of Business Networking Advice has generously written a guest article for my blog.  Josh is a speaker, trainer and coach who specializes in Effective Networking and Personal Branding.  As a reminder, Josh interviewed me in the past on his blog, which can be found at My Networking Interview.

Putting "Online Networking" Into Perspective

The other day I was speaking with someone and they asked for my thoughts on sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. In particular, how did I think they would effect or change the landscape of networking as we know it (that is the traditional, face to face, in person kind anyway).

I think my answer to the question surprised the fellow I was speaking with. "To me it's just a tool -- a powerful, easy to use tool -- but a tool just the same" I said matter of factly.

You see, while it is true that using the many resources available online to connect with and build relationships with others are tremendous, we sort of have to put them into perspective. By the way, I'm not belittling them at all. In fact, being an early adopter of "networking online" myself I fully believe in and use many of the resources available in the marketplace. It's just that as I mentioned, I think it helps to put things into perspective just the same.

So here goes...

As an example of what I was saying above let's make a timeline out of networking...Consider that if we go back long enough in time, people didn't have the luxury of a phone. That's right, we couldn't "reach out and touch" the folks in our network. We had to literally either telegraph them or -- dare I say go to them in person and meet face to face.

Then along came the marvelous invention we now take for granted --kudos to Mr. Alexander Graham Bell for bringing us our friend the telephone. Suddenly the barriers to meeting new people and making new connections that existed previously were lessened greatly. We could meet folks that weren't even in our area -- as well as keep in touch with them through a medium other than a written one.

There was of course the issue that anything other than local calls were still fairly expensive. Time and the marketplace took care of this to the point that now it's almost a non-issue for just about everyone around the world.

Do you see what I'm getting at here?

Then of course over time we got email, the internet and the countless other tools that we now use and tend to take for granted to the point that they seem as common place to us now as the phone does.

So flashing forward on our little networking timeline we find an incredible number of tools and resources which can help to further break down the traditional barrier to making and developing new connections. Again, these "online networking" tools are fabulous. And certainly they allow for collaboration and connections that wouldn't be as available otherwise. Use them for sure.

All I'm saying is keep in mind that in time these resources will be as common place as the others mentioned in our timeline. And if you happen to fall into the camp that thinks face to face, getting to "know" a person is going to fall by the wayside and become some sort of dark place where everyone hides behind their computers think again. It's a tool -- just like the ones you're already using to build strong connections and expand your network with others.

Have fun with them and by all means get out there and network.

In closing I'd like to share a few online resources you can use to get in on the action of connecting with others. As always keep in mind that your networking efforts will expand greatly when you lead with the understanding that the most "effective networkers" lead off with a sincere willingness to help others first.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of resources -- rather it's just a few you may wish to use to get started. It's a BIG world out there filled with many exciting opportunities to connect with others.

www.linkedin.com
www.facebook.com
www.myspace.com
www.twitter.com
www.ryze.com
www.biznik.com

And if that's not enough to get you started you can always do a quick search on "business networking" (minus the quotes of course) and you'll find tons more.