“I don’t care to belong to any club that would have me as a member.” Seem familiar? Yes. It’s from the inimitable Groucho Marx. He had, and still has, a point.
Especially so when you apply his point to business social networks. I mean, think about it. Linked In. My Ragan.com. BizSugar.com MillionImpossible.com, etc.; or name your own. If you’re in business, and you have pulse, you’re in the network. There are no other qualifications. Truthfully, you don’t really even need to be in business; just breathing and able to operate a computer. Speaking of breathing, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are, literally, some dead people in some of those networks. If dead people can vote in Chicago and Boston, why can’t they network on Linked In. So my point comes to this: With whom are you really networking?
One of the strengths of a business network, a real life network, is that you know the persons in your network from actually having worked with them previously, rather than just trading quips over the internet. You know their strengths and weaknesses. You know if you can rely on them or trust them. You know all of this, not just based upon the strength of their work, but also upon the strength of their character which you have seen displayed in the crucible of work. That character can only be communicated through good old face-to-face communication. You just can’t get that kind of communication quality over the Internet, particularly on Twitter.
Who cares what you had for breakfast? I’d rather care about your attitude under stress. And I can’t pick that up over the Internet.
Great Blog………….. we are one of the very small but growing Entrepreneur/ Business web sites. Your point of view, i totally understand and having spent nearly all of my life working on a face to face basis can confirm with you that there is nothing like looking into someone’s eyes whilst you are a talking and of course you can tell so much…my life has not been without challenge – see http://www.theunknownentrepreneur.com!!
A consideration for Entrepreneurs and Businesses when starting out can be that they are so pressed for time that they have to spend that time wisely and if they can go online and get what they need when they need it and combine that with the power of face to face marketing then it can keep you sharp…….
Thanks for mentioning us – where did you hear of us?
Kind Regards and best wishes
Brad