It Ain’t Network’n Anymore

The idea of being connected for life online was a dazzling concept. We rushed out and connected with former classmates, work colleagues and friends. We posted, shared, liked, and commented — what a joyous time.

We got brave and started connecting with strangers — our networks grew and grew.

Fast forward to today. The honeymoon is over. We find ourselves with networks that far exceed our memory. Our activity streams are noisy and we engage less.

Danger, danger

We live with a false perception that if we have thousands of connections, we must have a valuable network.

In reality, if we are not interacting with our network, we simply have a “list” of connections.

Similar to face-to-face networking, online networking is about engagement. Taking time to “like” a person’s post, investing time in a comment or sharing a post to reach a wider audience.

Networking is about helping. When you engage online, you are helping a person by acknowledging his or her actions. It feels good when other people engage with you.

While engaging is essential to networking, we should be aware that posting is not networking.

Posting is about creating awareness. Posting can also be very much about “look at me, look at me!!!”

As we engage our networks, we should be considerate of the frequency of the post and content.

If you value your network, start engaging and start helping. You will quickly find that your network will start engaging with you.

Let’s get back to net…working