In the old days, I mean the Really Old Days, men used to walk down to the community barber shop and talk business, politics, and farming. They were networking. It was nothing more than a conversation that took place in someone’s – the barber’s – office. A public meeting, if you will.
Networking hasn’t changed much. You don’t have to get your hair cut any more to talk business with strangers. Or with men in your community. It seems, though, that the definition of community has changed.
No longer are men gathered together in one place to hold a conversation so that the barber can earn his keep. Rather, conversations now take place over long distances, many times by people who have never – and never will – met. Due to the Internet, a man in Kansas, a woman in Europe, and a 15-year-old set of twins in Bangkok can meet in a chat room and discuss fabrics. They are networking.
Whether you do your networking through Facebook or MySpace, YouTube or Xanga, LinkedIn or Ryze, you are still networking. The rules haven’t changed. The etiquette is still the same. Maybe the conversation is different, and the people are certainly different. Still, it’s all about relationships. What are you doing today to build better relationships online?
