Make a Personal Connection!

Chris at LifeHack.org recently shared some thoughts on effective networking ("Meet People NOT Business Cards - lifehack.org"). If you're like me, you've tended to use these events as opportunities to amass a big collection of business cards. But that's not the point of the meeting, really, is it? Here are my comments to the article:

I hear you, Chris. I just read something along the same lines in Keith Ferrazzi's book Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time. If you collect a bunch of business cards without making a personal connection, you're left with a phone list from which to make cold calls.

Now, let's transfer these thoughts into collecting contacts on internet social networks, okay?

I see people blindly adding friends on social networking sites like MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, and others, the same way people collect business cards. There are various reasons to do this; the most obvious is to make themselves look important, which is something that motivates some people. If people see someone with lots of contacts, they will begin to think of them as an expert in their field. I'm a bit torn on this myself, to be honest.

Just remember that the personal connection is what matters. What are you doing right now to make and reinforce the personal connection with your contacts? What are your thoughts on the effectiveness of amassing large numbers of contacts?

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