The power of social networking
By Dhaval Valia
Just a month ago, I had no presence on any online social networking forums. I had only heard anecdotes from friends about how their friends or acquaintances found international jobs through online networking.
But within a month of putting up my profile on LinkedIn, I have managed to touch base with 70 of my friends, peers and ex-colleagues. Through this network of 70, I now have access to 5,000 connections—friends and acquaintances of my contacts. And I have just started!
Welcome to the power of networking. Just to quote someone, who we all know as the inventor of Ethernet, Robert Metcalfe, who said: “The value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of users of the system.”
So far I have only been on LinkedIn and have to admit that it has the most simple and hassle free interface. You can sign on in a jiffy and send invites automatically to your contacts on Outlook and other email services like Google, Yahoo and MSN.
On LinkedIn, once you enter the names of organizations you have worked for in the past, the forum throws up names of all people who earlier worked in the same company as well as those that are currently employed. You can send invites to them.
There are also forums on LinkedIn—for instance, I have signed up for the Blackberry Club, a network of Blackberry users around the world. You can discuss any topic related to Blackberry device and its services under the sky; you can seek help to troubleshoot problems; and also indulge in Blackberry bashing. Similarly, there are many such groups on info security, Linux, Cisco and Microsoft.
My intention is not to promote LinkedIn, but to highlight the fact that such social networking platforms can prove a great business tool that can help connect with a large community of friends, colleagues and peers. How you explore these connections is entirely left to your imagination.
Having realized its benefits, I would like to recommend CRN readers to sample the power of networking. If you do sign up on LinkedIn, don’t forget to invite me to your network. |