Social networking seems finally to be “coming of age”. Business leaders I meet vary in their opinion of such sites and means of communication, but this article shows that even serious sites have a lot to offer.
http://lateralaction.com/articles/social-networks-for-creatives/
That said, I don’t think that online networking will ever beat the good old fashioned chat over lunch or a cup of coffee. Or is it me that is old fashioned?
Tags: lunch, meeting, network, networking, social, web
November 10th, 2008 at 10:39 am
[...] Thankful For Anything wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt Social networking seems finally to be “coming of age”. Business leaders I meet vary in their opinion of such sites and means of communication, but this article shows that even serious sites have a lot to offer. http://lateralaction.com/articles/social-networks-for-creatives/ That said, I don’t think that online networking will ever beat the good old fashioned chat over lunch or a cup of coffee. Or is it me that is old fashioned? [...]
November 10th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Thanks for the link. I agree that nothing beats a face-to-face chat, but it’s not really an either/or decision. The sites I’ve listed don’t replace face-to-face conversation, they act as a catalyst for it. Likemind is the most obvious example on the list, but I’ve enjoyed many ‘real life’ meetups as a result of online networking.
November 13th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Face-to-face chats definitely make it easier to get to know people better and to discuss things in depth. Still, the online stuff’s great as it transcends geographical boundaries. You can connect with people in different countries, counties, cities, buildings … and people in the same room, all at the same time.
And I agree with Mark McGuinness that the online stuff tends to lead to, and be a catalyst for, offline meet-ups.
I organise the Birmingham Likemind coffee mornings (mild plug!) and loads of the people who come along have found out about it via mine or other blogs, through Twitter (@likemind, if you’re interested) and Upcoming. We also have a poster and little reminder cards in the venue though, so anyone not online social media au fait can find out about it too. I do think people will always like to meet up and have a ‘proper chat’.
For me the power of both online and offline social networking is that they bring each other together; it’s about connecting.