Mar 10

Written by: Myra Norton
3/10/2008 12:01 PM

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear “social networking”? This is one of the questions I’ve started asking folks before I give a talk or lead a meeting to share the work we do here at Community Analytics. I ask because I find that the responses are varied, and to really talk about how to connect with an audience through social networks, it’s important to make sure we’re speaking the same language. Invariably, the answers to that question are “facebook”, “myspace”, “blogs”, etc. I find that last one kind of humorous now that I am blogging because I would not describe it as a particularly “social” endeavor.

If I am lucky, there will be one or two people in the room who will say something like, “a circle of friends” or “personal and professional relationships” or the like. I think it is important to make the distinction between “social networks” and the resources that help to facilitate them. Social networks are about human relationships. We may nurture, build or even develop those relationships online, offline or through some combination of the two; but the network is defined by the people involved and the reasons (issues/topics/interests/attraction) they formed those relationships in the first place. For instance, I participate in an executive roundtable through the Greater Baltimore Technology Council – this is an example of one of my networks. These relationships were formed because of mutual interest in growing a business, growing people, creating work/life balance, etc. Some of us interact online and some of us interact primarily offline – regardless, the network is defined by the relationships and the types of information and advice we share with each other, not the medium through which we share this advice and information.

Given this, it’s interesting to explore the different dimensions of value we receive through our networks. What level of advice or information do we seek from our connections on Facebook or LinkedIn, and does that differ from the information and advice we seek from our colleagues at work, a professional discussion group or other groups that have formed offline? I’m curious too about the overlap between online interaction and offline interaction. There are likely individuals with whom you have a relationship purely online, those with whom you interact almost exclusively offline and those with whom you interact in both mediums. How do the people in each of those groups in your life differ? How does your relationship with them differ? Is the information and advice you exchange different depending on the medium? Some food for thought…

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