The Evolution of Networking
When we established Sun's Women's group in the Boston area, one of the main reasons
people wanted to get involved was to improve their internal and external networks/networking
skills. (Career Development and Mentoring rounded out the top 3 reasons for the creation
of our group.)
Six years later and after dozens of traditional networking events internally at Sun and
with our local connections to WITI-Boston and MassWIT, our participation rate has dropped,
causing me to wonder why.
- Have the women at Sun achieved their networking goals?
- Are members of our group just uncomfortable with these kinds of networking events?
- Are people just too busy?
Then it struck me --- networking has changed!
Enter SOCIAL NETWORKING via tools like blogs, linked-in, MySpace, etc.
(I do find it odd that this kind of networking is dubbed Social Networking, because
hiding behind a computing device, connecting with people only by the Internet actually
seems anti-social to me.)
So, my quest for knowledge about this topic kicked in to high gear --- there seems to
be no set rules or instructions around this kind of networking (yes, common courtesy,
email ettiquette, etc. do play a role.) But this learning comes only thru actual experience
and connecting with others who are good at social networking.
An excellent overview of social networking was recently presented via a webcast with
Liz Ryan, founder of WorldWIT.
Liz has come to Sun's Burlington campus on a few occasions when we've hosted
various MassWIT events. And more recently, she's presented at our Broomfield, CO
campus, just a hop, skip and jump from WorldWIT HQ in Boulder, CO. Liz's presentation,
as well as her WorldWIT website are worth checking out to get up to speed with some
great social networking examples.
So, as I learn more about social networking, I'm starting to answer my own questions:
Networking IS more important than ever -- it's just done differently! (kind of like the
evolution letter writing -- using quill & ink to pen/pencils to typewriters to wordprocessors
to email to IM and now blogs!)
But, just how will we get re-newed interest in these in-person networking events?
Well, just maybe, we'll disguise them as learning/career development events! (another
reason why we created our local women's group) I think a great topic should be this
whole concept of social networking.
What do you think about this --- do you prefer in-person or virtual networking?
Posted at
06:43AM Oct 26, 2006
by sandyb in Of Note |