Social Networking:  Moving beyond the hype

By Rick Fowler rick@rick-fowler.com 

Is there a way to use the new social networking tools to strategically build your network?  Yes – if you keep in mind the time-tested strategies of building relationships and understand how network structures can affect your efforts. 

While social networking websites are new, social networks are not.   Humans have always been social beings, building relationships and creating networks.  To maximize the effectiveness of your social network, it is important to understand the various roles within networks.  For our discussion, there are essentially three roles that a person fills in a network; which role you fill affects the relationships you have with those within and across networks. An Insider is well-connected within the network and has a reputation within the group. She is likely trusted by the group.  An Insider has a cohesive network, with tight connections and frequent interactions.  As a result, their network ties are dense.  While that can be positive, it is important to understand that effort and time is needed to nurture these dense ties to maintain them. 

 An Outsider, by contrast, may not be trusted by the group because they simply are not known. Outsiders tend to exist outside of networks, never really belonging to any one network.  They serve the valuable function of bringing in new information or insight into a network.  An Outsider can join a network temporarily if an Insider sponsors them.  For example, a consultant gets cooperation from Insiders because of the legitimacy transferred to the consultant by the boss who hired him. 

A third role is the Entrepreneur,  meeting lots of people, making things happen, and not necessarily swearing allegiance to any one group. The Network Entrepreneur builds a few relationships, with credibility and trust in many different groups, and becomes a bridge between networks.  He may not be fully trusted like the Insiders, but he participates enough with the right people to know what's going on and to influence those networks without having to invest large amounts of time in nurturing the dense ties like the Insider does.   

To summarize, Insiders have cohesive networks with more trust and better communication. This structure is valuable for teamwork. Entrepreneurs are bridges between networks. There are many connections waiting to be made, and this is what gives the Entrepreneur opportunities to create value in networks. By participating in many networks, the Entrepreneur's network has greater diversity, a greater variety of information, and opportunities to make connections between networks.  

What New Value Do Social Networking Sites Provide?

We can find people faster – and they can find us.  It's easier to find people, whether it's people you lost track of and want to find again, or new connections you want to add.  

We can reach “places” we couldn’t reach before.  I allow my connections on LinkedIn to see my network.  This allows people to ask for a connection that they need.  I also find that browsing through my contacts generates new ideas for connections to make.  Finally, I can use my contacts to reach companies where they used to work. They still have contacts there, but I might never have asked except that I can see their work history in their profiles. 

We can create and track many more connections.  It's easier to keep up with more contacts.  I'm not saying that a Facebook message is the same as staying connected with a person you trust, but it's possible to keep more contacts in mind when they are easy to find, group, and organize. 

In order to make the best use of your networking time and be strategic in your approach, ask yourself the following:

What do you want your network to do for you?

Are you seeking new sources of information?

Are you looking for clients or recruits?

Do you want to be involved in decisions the group makes?

Are you looking to collaborate with others?

Are you looking for interaction which stimulates new insights and ideas? 

Of course, your objective may be entirely different and it might vary from group to group.  When participating in networks, you might decide that in one group knowing everyone is important. You may want to become the go-to person, the hub, and be seen this way.  In another group, you might want to keep in touch with one or two key people to know what's going on. You won’t enjoy as much trust with that group, but, depending on your objective, that may be acceptable.  Efficiency in the right places is important. 

If you keep in mind the time-tested strategies of building relationships and network structures, you can use the new technology tools to round out your networks.  

About Rick Fowler

Rick Fowler is a Special Advisor at Cuddlephish, a consulting firm specializing in helping new and emerging technology ventures devise strategies for growth and innovation.  He is also finishing his M.B.A. at the University of Chicago.  He can be reached at rick@rick-fowler.com.
 

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