Social Networking, Retro-Style
In just a few short years social networking sites have gone from something that people thought might just be a fad to a major part of our society. You’ve probably seen the statistic that if Facebook was a country it would be the fourth largest in the world. It might also surprise you to know that based on Facebook’s last publicly released data, their fastest growing segment is adults aged 40-55.
With the social networking trend cementing its place in our lives more each day, let’s turn the clock back a few years (or decades) and talk about the activity that gave these sites their moments of inspiration: classic networking.
The idea of building a network of connected individuals is something that’s been around since the beginning of human society. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that it became a popular buzzword in the business community. The idea is certainly simple. The more people you’re familiar with or connected to, the easier it is to find resources, be introduced to potential business partners and locate potential clients. Essentially, the modern version of professional networking is aimed at building relationships with people who can help you get your job done easier.
While there’s certainly nothing wrong with this interpretation of networking, over time people have come to look at networkers as people who are always looking for something, perhaps even people who would rather receive than give. When I look at online social networking today I often see the same thing. A competition to see who can accumulate the most connections or “friends”. Well it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell you that no one can have meaningful two way relationships with thousands of friends. We just don’t have the bandwidth. But what if we took the volume out of the idea of networking? What if we stopped looking for dozens of “friends” to make us look more cool and stopped looking for tons of business connections that could help us do our jobs easier, instead of looking for a few key people who could help us become better?
You see, truly classic professional networking started out hundreds of years ago when apprenticeship first began. A novice would seek out a skilled artisan and learn underneath them for some period of time. The novice got great, hands-on education, and the artisan got to advance their theory of how their trade should be plied (and perhaps some free work along the way). Mentorship is a word that is tossed around a lot today. What if we went back to using networking, on a small scale, like people successfully used it in the past?
Consider how much you could learn if you reached out to someone outside your company and social circle, who was well-respected in your line of work, and someone you were interested in learning from? If you had just one or two relationships like that, imagine the amount of fresh perspective and new information you’d be processing on an ongoing basis. That wouldn’t be large scale networking for instant gain. It would be micro-networking for long-term development.
You see, networking doesn’t have to be flashy, self promoting or shallow. It can also be deeply effective and developmental, but you have to be willing to approach it like an apprentice would. You also have to be willing to be a mentor for others who could benefit from your knowledge. It can’t be something that works only one way.
When done correctly, micro-networking and mentorship can keep fresh ideas and perspectives in your life and dramatically increase the speed of your development - both personal and professional. If you think creating a few of these high-powered network connections might be something you’re interested in, look around for one or two individuals who could make a difference in your life.
