Networking, a word, a term, pretty much over-used in this day and age of the internet and social media. A lot of people use social media for ?networking? yet have its definition totally twisted. Pushing your work onto somebody, spamming people with links, is not ?networking?. When the term networking is used in reference to some type of business, it definitely is being misused, or even abused.
I am not saying I am an expert in networking, but I felt the need to address this, because I have built a pretty solid network the past 15 years, within the music industry. I can safely say I pretty much figured out what networking really is. But then again, back in the day, you mostly built your network on your work, things you could show for, your actions and referrals from people you work with. Now, networking is done through the internet, specifically social media. Being on social media only, is good enough to say you are ?networking?. I disagree.
Social media made it easier to connect to people, all over the world. Connecting is not equal to networking. I think this is where the mistake is made. In any type of industry, networking requires mutual benefits with a collaboration. Its not a one way street. You can?t make a connection, if the other side doesn?t connect with you. Social media can be used in different ways. One can use it to listen, to send, or to do both. It can be used to act, interact and react.?According to the business dictionary, this is the definition of networking:
Creating a?group of acquaintances and?associates and keeping it?active through regular?communication for?mutual benefit. Networking is based on the question ?How can I help?? and not with ?What can I get??
Again, how you use social media is up to you. But what I experience is that I get messages from people, that are more so focused on the latter question of above definition. People either send out work (spam) of their own, without interacting, or showing interest in what the person they send their work to, does. I would say that is the least effective to gain business or even ?fans?.
Example: I got a message from someone on Twitter saying ?I love your work!? I of course thanked the person. They replied with ?I?d like to work with you, where can I reach you?? I gave out my info and the person sent me an email which looked like half a novel, with his bio and telling me to check out his work.?I then replied asking. ?You said you wanted to work together, I see no business ideas or suggestions for a collaboration.? He replied back saying he didn?t know what I exactly do. I was stunned. I replied. ?You initially hit me up saying you love my work and then wanted to work together. But you don?t know what I do? My advice is, next time you want people to only check out your work, don?t lie about it. Just ask.?
Clearly some people don?t know how to network, connect or really just simply ask people in a professional, polite way, to give feedback on their work. It doesn?t always have to be a mutual benefit or a collaboration. But have the decency to hit up people in a proper way. THAT is connecting.
Thank you social media, for making a lot of definitions unclear or even redefining certain terms, such as business, networking, connecting but also friendships, relationships and other terms on a personal level.
If you hit me up, please make sure to use proper terms. If its just for feedback, just say so. If you are ?networking? make sure you know what the person does and how you can help eachother.
Source: http://www.payology.com/blog/networking/
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