With the onslaught of social media there seems to be a natural scoring system for measuring a person’s network. I first noticed it on LinkedIn. LinkedIn initially limited the profiles you could “see” based upon 3 degrees of separation. You could only see the LinkedIn profiles of people that were within 3 degrees of you.
I am a professional recruiter and many of my colleagues went out and connected with anyone and everyone. The philosophy was the larger the network, the greater the opportunity to find the recruit/candidate you were looking for. However, other recruiters took a different philosophy – only connecting with people they truly knew. Two different definitions of what a “connection” is.
Facebook followed with “friends”. Similar to LinkedIn and “connections”, people using Facebook define who a “friend” is differently. Some people have numerous “friends” while others are more restrictive on whom they consider a “friend”. Now, of course, there is Twitter and “followers”.
A person’s online-brand is partially defined by what one’s online network looks like. But what is a network? Is your online connections/friends/followers considered to be your network? And what size should your network be? I have given this quite a bit of thought and I don’t think there is are easy and simple answers to these questions. I think a network means different things to different people.
~ How well do you need to know someone to consider them part of your network?
~ Is a network made of people that would do you a favor?
~ Is a network made up of people that you would do a favor for?
~ What is a favor? Making an introduction? Willing to do business with you? Being a reference? Loaning you money? Inviting someone to your home?
I think it is okay for the definition of “network” to be unique for each person. The challenge is when people in your network have a different definition than you have – their expectations of you are different than your expectations of them. Without having the same expectations, I question whether it is a strong network.
I believe everyone needs a strong network, especially during these economic times. We need to help and support one another. The question is how do you create, manage, and sustain a strong network? Is it important to grow your network and how is this done effectively? I have found it very challenging to sustain and grow my network during these social media times. What suggestions do you have for me? Curious minds want to know.
Like Sue, my FB page has a conglomeration of people from many parts of my life: college, high school (who knew?), limited work contacts (a topic for another post, Jeff!), gym friends, community contacts and a handful of other contacts. I’m on FB for a variety of reasons: entertainment, news, keeping up w/ family, sharing something with others (a success in our family, observation, frustration or meaningless comment).
I don’t use Twitter. OVERWHELMING. Like a gushing fire hydrant of information.
LinkedIn – have an account, use it once every couple of weeks. I try and keep connections there who I only truly know in a professional capacity.
My thinking is that you can be passive w/ some connections and that’s ok. It’s interesting to see what others are thinking about. And, some of those passive connections can flip over to active once in a while.
A social media “expert” explained it to me once this way: think of social media as a moving stream or river. Dive in when you can and get out when you must. But don’t try and keep up with everything and everyone. You will be frustrated.
This advice has helped me to have a good perspective on its utility.
One of the words I use to define myself is “connector.” I’ve always been good at puzzles, piecing things together from a jumble of parts. A good skill for an editor to possess. But, if I didn’t work in Communications, I’m not sure I would have found Facebook as quickly as I did … certainly not Twitter. A few years back I tried a MySpace profile and it just wasn’t a good fit. But, once I got on Facebook, I fell in love. I’ve had a LinkIn account for years, but seldom use it. However, if I was job hunting? A whole ‘nother story.
My Facebook “friends” are a jumble of people (217) from all parts of my life. I have friends, family networks (I love keeping in touch with my nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews who I don’t see very often). I also have networks of coworkers, former coworkers, business/media contacts, high school classmates, friends from church, Leadership Twin Cities connections, friends from the disability community. One of my largest networks comes from a former online community: Readerville.com. These people, scattered all over the U.S. and Europe, were part of my online fix for about seven years. It’s been great to discover many of them have migrated to Facebook.
My personal Facebook network is about as large as I can handle. Maybe a few more old friends or other family members, but it’s plenty for me to keep up with. I now find I don’t post status updates as much as I did at the beginning. But, almost daily I’m on seeing who’s posted, linked, made a hilarious comment. It’s become my way to keep in the loop.
I also manage Courage Center’s social media sites. Our corporate Facebook Fan page has grown to 769 fans. For a nonprofit, Facebook is a must. It’s a fun new tool in the toolbox. But it’s just one tool.
Twitter has grown on me. I went into the world of tweets kicking and screaming (“Do I really have to?”) After a few trial balloons, I’m now comfortable Tweeting (although the name really doesn’t do much to add to its credibility), I also have a personal Twitter account @sgwarn12, but seldom use it.
There are lots of options in social media. Something is likely to fit your personality. Try them all. See what feels right and what doesn’t. If you’re a private person or only want to network professionally? Probably stick to LinkedIn. If you’re social, with lots of types of connections, Facebook, MySpace and/or Twitter are probably a better fit.
Jeff, how do you create manage, and sustain a strong network . . .that’s a wonderful question and I hope you will share as your ideas evolve. One thought I have – because I am living it now – is that if it is challenging to sustain the network then either there is “too much” and it’s time to scale back. But that goes back to my definition of a network and now you have me thinking about . . . .