Social Aspects Of Social Networking

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Social Networking
I was reading a Twitter posting this morning by a connection from Linkedin. The posting was about how my Linkedin friend was sending personal messages to anyone that asked to become connected to her. My friend is a consultant and since recently starting to do this, she has had three requests for consultation. This started me thinking about the social aspects of social networking. It seems many people understand that networking is a valuable tool for building a business, yet they forget that there is a social aspect to the social networking.

Which would you prefer? Two thousand followers on Twitter, most of whom never bothered to find out who you are or two hundred followers on Twitter, most of whom you have had some type of a conversation with. Two hundred people that you do some socializing with will probably be a more valuable tool for building a business than two thousand that don't even remember you have some type of connection.

I got my start with social networking, for the most part. on Linkedin. I did have a Facebook and Myspace account prior to opening the Linkedin account, but did not really use those accounts much or do any real social networking. I started getting involved with Linkedin and really started wanting to build a social network. I became an open networker, a person that, for the most part, accepts anyone else as a connection. It did not take long to start getting invitations to join other social networks and social networking sites. A couple of times I did, but unless you want to be a professional social networker, how many social networking sites can you effectively work and be productive? For me the answer is, not many.

The statement I read this morning about 'sending a personal note' to those requesting a connection really got me to thinking. My objective to being on social networking sites like Twitter and Linkedin is to build my business. Right now on my biggest Twitter account I am nearing 2000 followers, I am at over 1500 connections on Linkedin. If I send an announcement to all of these people, how many of them do you suppose will follow the link in the announcement.

I think we need to socialize, we need to really work the social aspect of social networking. As a business person we all have schedules we have to keep. Most might schedule a certain time to work on social networking. I think I am going to start working harder at not just building a lot of connections, but improving the quality of relationship I have with those connections.