Creating connections
Life-opportunities are directly proportional to the number and quality of personal connections you create. Some suggest it’s not the quantity of connections but the quality. I suggest both quantity and quality are relevant.
I’ve been intentionally leveraging Internet technology to extend influence and create connections for 5.5 months. You can see I’m new at this. Here are a few observations from a social networking newbie.
Twitter is the #1 gateway for creating new connections. Twitter’s strength is the low relational-commitment it requires. Limiting tweets to 140 characters or less protects tweeps (people on twitter) from being overwhelmed. A low-commitment entry point frees participants to reach out and explore. Sometimes an exploration ignites interest and creates a connection.
Even though twitter has a low-commitment entry point, creating connections takes time. Translation, twitter isn’t a magic pill that creates connections without energy and focus. However, the first steps are easy. After first steps, tweets lead to direct messages, emails, and phone conversations.
Facebook is more personal and facilitates deeper conversations. Every day I’m conversing with individuals looking for resources, suggestions, support, or advice.
LinkedIn, the business connection platform, hasn’t been fruitful to this point. Perhaps I haven’t spent enough time using it?
Blogging facilitates a broad range of relationship. For example, many enjoy a low commitment reader-writer relationship. However, others savor dynamic interactions created by commenting. Public comments are resulting in private emails, phone conversations, and face-to-face meetings.
Surprisingly, I believe Twitter is the high opportunity platform for creating new connections. It’s an entry point. I’m saying this because my mission is helping leaders reach higher. It’s my opinion that entering the twitterverse is essential for everyone desiring to extend their reach by creating new connections.
What Internet technologies are you using to create new connections? Do you have a success story?
Totally agree – Twitter is a great tool to build meaningful connections around a common cause.
My view is that with any social media format – we tend to focus too much on “media” aspect forgetting the “social” one.
When we are connected to people over social web, it helps to pick up the phone and share notes once a while. It really helps build long-term relationship based on ideas exchange.
Best,
Tanmay
I learned this so late in my career – well, my previous career as IT executive. And early in this one (entrepreneur, coach). I find your summary of your experiences with social networking insightful, clear, pragmatic.
My experience is that LinkedIn is useful for targeted networking. That is – if you want to look for specific connections from your work-past – you can do it here. If you want to look for connections at a specific organization or company – you can do it here. Also, LinkedIn connections strike me as more likely to be “all business” versus social.
Lori,
Welcome to the LF community. Thanks for jumping in on this conversation.
I’m sticking with LinkedIn to see what may come of it. I think your assessment is spot on.
Best to you,
Dan
I agree that life opportunity is directly proportional to quality of connection. Quanitity also matters because in business we need customers and unless we have quantity we cant have quality. We find quality only after test or examination of the quantity. So quality is the byproduct of quantity. Amongst quantity of customers you can segregate quality customers. It is rightly said ” A friend in need is friend indeed” how can we check it. We can check it only when we face problem and expect all our friends to help us, but unfortunately, we come to know true friend after judging quality. I believe, quantity is a pshychological safety net and quality is what sustainable and really useful for anyone.
Ajay,
Great seeing you again.
Thanks for your statements. Frankly, I would have expected the opposite. Quantity is a byproduct of Quality. In other words quality products/relationships result in more customers/relationships.
I think I get the point you are making. A large quantity of “low-commitment” relationships creates the potential for a few “high-commitment” relationships. My experience with Twitters bears this out.
I think Seth Godin would challenge us on this. 🙂
Regards,
Dan
In addition to Seth, so would Jim Collins!
I can see both sides. Maybe it is an optical illusion…at one point an old lady and the next, a young woman. It may be that quality and quantity can be braided or should be braided to have effective connections.
Each of the media identified have a niche and elements of each overlap. And they are not static. Remember MySpace?
I think webinars are another variation, still uni-directional for the most part.
Increased memory storage is allowing for more video conferencing, which becomes real-time connections in contrast to blogs.
I noticed you did not mention the wiki world. That seems to be evolving on its own within organizations. It is getting solid endorsement related project development and specialized here and now interactions. While wikis may not be universally accessible, they do serve as internal bus stops of indigenous information. One that I am a part of is titled ‘confluence’ which speaks to the vision as well. Multiple people can be connected at the same time across a wide physical space.
What might be of interest (as you noted Dan) is:
1) what niches still have not been filled,
2) what would a hub (all niches overlapping at one point) look like and
3) are we limiting ourselves with existing eMedia for connection?
It would be interesting to see if there will be a free-flowing nexus of all of these media tools at some point.
Still, you can’t beat face time for a true connection! 😉
I use Linkedin for research and establishing the intelligence needed to craft a plan and strategy, I have started to see how with twitter, some of my Linkedin contacts are being crucial to learning and making critical connections to make the plan operational.
I also find that I get out of each what I put in, each time I have placed an emphasis on either, I have not been disappointed.
I believe each is complementing the other. With both worth the effort and both are better than the alternative.
Tony,
My experience with blogging and twitter is the same as yours with LinkedIn. The more you put in the more you get out.
Thanks for leaving your first comment.
I’m looking for you again.
Regards,
Dan
Dan,
Take a closer look at LinkedIn. It is highly underutilized.
I think LinkedIn offers the richest engagement, the easiest targeting, and the best long-term results.
Check out the groups … carve your niche. Share your links and post them to your groups.
Grow your network.
Recommend professionals and they will reciprocate.
Give yourself a good hour a week at LinkedIn. You will not regret it.
Fran,
Thanks for leaving your first comment on Leadership Freak.
You comment drips of passion and compassion. Thank you.
Regards,
Dan
After reading this post and subsequent comments, I guess I’m going to have to break down and join the twitterverse. Can you recommend any text or articles entitles, twitter 101 or twitter for dummies?
Twitter’s website and help are a great place to start! Go have fun
Dan a decade on & research is in saying Twitter is more powerful by a factor of ~5 than other platforms. What are your reflections on making connections across an organisation, country & globally?