Social Media Creates TRUE Networking

I have talked at length about the value of combining your offline and online networking. I have been believer in the absolute value of social networking sites being the pinnacle of true networking… the pinnacle of creating a valuable relationship between two people.

I was reading a post at the Winnepeg Sun called The Re-Wired Generation. Although this article was written about the Internet driven Generation Y it had an excerpt from University of Toronto sociology professor, Berry Wellman:

“Far from replacing face to face time and breeding a generation of reclusives, Facebook and Twitter are actually enhancing interpersonal relationships offline…

The Internet is complementing, continuing and maintains relationships,” he said. “It’s letting weaker relationships stay in contact.”

There was a time in the business world where you would meet individuals at networking events and forget them the next day. The faces and names would be categorized into a business card pile and shoved into a dark desk drawer. This “networking for forgetting” has been all but erased if the two people are connected on a social media platform  like LinkedIn. The personal development between an individual and their client is based on touch-points. The more touch-points you have with a person the greater the relationship (we would like to think so). The essence of social media is built around the touch-points on the Internet. Can you connect to prospect using LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook? The wealth of information given to you in a single sitting is exponential!

Instead of dismissing social media and using the old forms of communication. Try developing your weaker business or personal relationships using an online model. You may be pleasantly surprised.

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