What is networking? This is a process by which ideas can be shared between two or more people.
Defining Community
During the middle of the job market crisis, everyone knew what networking meant: talking to others in the vain hope they would find you a job. But this is only a part of the answer. Networking is far more complicated than it ever was in the past. Since we have more avenues by which to connect to others, it seems more realistic today than ever that we look to community networking resources to help us find better ways of networking, even when we don’t need those sources at the moment.
How We Can Network Today
Networking is going to go far beyond passing out business cards to others in the room. You now have virtual identities, identities in which you can change your reputation in a moment, just by changing what your profile says or what your picture looks like. You are more exposed today than ever before, so it’s up to you to find ways to make sure you’re enriching your life, not embarrassing yourself. (Yes, that means the picture of you and the beer bong need to go.)
Networking today consists of a few basic strategies:
- Email communications
- Social media
- Personal and professional websites
- Career networking media
You can use simple emails to reach out to the people with whom you want to share information. This will allow you the opportunity to discuss new ideas at any time of the night or day, even in your pajamas (nor not). You can spout off your latest theories about relativity, or you can simply talk about how crappy your day at work was.
Other people might share new ideas about cures for cancer or they might discuss how they could make their business greener. Through the communication over these networks, not only are you communicating your own ideas, but you are sharing them with others, who then share them with others, etc.
Getting Everyone in the Community Network
But a community network doesn’t work unless everyone is on it. There needs to be a system of computers which are easy for anyone to access. This is why many impoverished countries are getting the opportunity to buy or lease cheap laptops. In having these computers, they will be able to connect to the Internet and to the places in the world they have never seen or might never see. Cities who are interested in building community networks can ask for funding from the government or look into community fundraisers to help them create a tighter network.
With an understanding of how networking works and how to spread this ability throughout the world, not only is the world a little bit smaller, but it’s also a little more resourceful.
