If you build a strong network, its effects will ripple

Penelope Trunk offers 4 New Ideas for Becoming More Effective at Work.

The second idea is particularly relevant for JJ Learners, who exemplify the opposite of "sloppy networking":

Sloppy networking leads to sloppy results. The founders of the professional networking site LinkedIn tell people in no uncertain terms that building a network has to be about people you know well. Yet every day thousands of LinkedIn users invite near-strangers into their network.

Newsflash: People you don’t know cannot vouch for you. People you have not connected with in an authentic way will not be move to help you when you need it. It doesn’t matter how full your LinkedIn account is, or how heavy your Rolodex is, if you haven’t really connected with these people, it’s not a network.

The opposite is true as well. If you build a strong network, its effects will ripple. Josh Boltuch, Elliott Breece and Elias Roman spent their last semester at Brown University launching Amie Street, a new model for selling music online. They had no marketing budget to get the word out, but they did have their network.

“We sent a few hundred emails to friends and family.” The crux of the marketing pitch? “We told everyone that a requirement for being our friend is to sign up for our site.” A few weeks later, without saying anything to the founders, someone told Mike Arrington about Amie Street.

Arrington has one of the strongest networks in startup America. Getting your startup on his blog TechCrunch is like getting your book on Oprah. And there was Amie Street, right there on Mike’s blog one day.

The next day, Amie Street had thousands of registered users.
What can we learn from this? That solid networks make solid results.
The Amie Street founders had a network that cared deeply for them – their friends and family. Mike Arrington’s network is truly dedicated to helping him find the best new startups. Amie Street is a success today because it started with a truly meaningful network.

JJ Learners practice the art of authentic networking through several activities, including:

• posting and commenting on JJL,
• reading and supporting each other's blogs,
• participating in learning forums such as A Love Affair with Books, and
• attending  face-to-face events such SOBCon07.

 

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Blaine Collins is the author of the Stronger Teams Blog, a place to explore useful ideas and strategies for improving teamwork, collaboration and team leadership in professional organizations. Blaine will contribute to JJL Love Affair with Books by reviewing Marcus Buckingham's newest book, Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance on March 31.

Comments

[Rebecca Thomas]

I think that some of the mindset that drives people to just collect friends on social sites like LiveJournal and MySpace seems to have followed some people to sites like LinkedIn. These people think that if it looks like they have a lot of "friends", then that says they're important.

If more people just took the time to nurture and grow their networks authentically, the online world would be a much nicer place.

[Rosa Say]

This hits home with a very direct and solid hit Blaine, for the continuity and staying-power of JJL is something I think about all the time.

Just as every author wants their book to be on the NY Times Best-Sellers list (if they say otherwise I have a hard time believing them) bloggers must admit to searching for that formula which builds and maintains network communities characterized by both quantity and quality. However as the quantity increases, the quality is increasingly difficult to maintain, because

a) Our largely-voluntary audience has so many compelling networking choices outside the community.

b) None of us belong to just one community in the innate way virtual social media is currently working, and

c) The reciprocation it takes to support all members can really tax your available time and energy – the great majority of the engaged community are other bloggers with Job One being their own blogs.

This is not only true for JJL: Keeping bloggers attention by giving them great return on their attention is something we have to continually and consistently work hard on.

For instance, when we consider the original ideas which came together with JJL, one which has stalled has been the Learning Projects. Why did it stall? Was there a diffusion of interest, did everyone get too busy, was it a half-cooked idea that we’ve moved on from? Is it partly all those things, or something else, and should that option come off the blog?

I appreciate the wonderful support in your post for our JJL founders and founding community members (after all, this is only our 4th month), for I heartily agree that we have started with much more than a cursory acquaintance with each other, and authenticity has always been a nonnegotiable given for all of us. There is an exceptionally high degree of admiration and mutual respect within this group; our relationships with each other are both professional and increasingly personal.

Our commitment to each other grows steadily: Does it keep growing to the blog itself for the sake of our readers? Frankly, how much should readers who choose only to lurk in the anonymous shadows rightfully expect?

Your intention may have been different with your posting, however it get me to re-think about all these questions - yet again. I personally am looking in the mirror at my own attentions and commitment; mahalo nui loa for a very thought provoking posting.

[Blaine Collins]

Rebecca - I think you are right about "friend" gathering. To some degree, social networking can have an addictive facet. Once the network starts growing, folks may want to see how big they can build it. The key, as I see it, is to identify why you want to connect with people, then invest enough in the relationship to make sure it is mutually beneficial.

[Blaine Collins]

Rosa - Obviously a solid hit. Much to think about in your comment. I'll touch on a few points and save still more for further reflection.

I have to pull from Starbucker in seeing the JJL glass as half full. The last quarter of 2006 was a great time to lay a foundation for exposure and sharing. These months have also given the individuals in the original group an opportunity to determine the range of "attention" to JJL that will likely work for each of us into the future.

Community engagement in such things as the as the upcoming reading forum is solid. I look forward to the breadth of quality voices - very exciting!

The projects idea has not caught on. I suspect that is because it is not so clearly rooted in writing, a love for which is the single most unifying force across the participants. I don't want to squelch the prospects for future projects; nor do I feel they are essential for progress.

Finally, I am comfortable having readers who choose not to participate through comments. Perhaps that is because I was a passive reader myself for so long before finding a voice. Those of us who do interact gain the additional benefits of dialogue.

[Greg Balanko-Dickson]

I am always on a learning project of some sort and was not sure how to fit it in with coordinating the calendar. I did not want to pull attention away from others.

I used to be a snail engaging with a group, preferring to sit back and observe and choose my entry points carefully. Insecurity held me back in the past and thinking that others were so far ahead of me.

I suspect others might be feeling the same way and I want to let 'you' know that is alright and we are ready to listen when you are ready to be heard.

I remember when I first visited Rosa's site as a complete newbie to her Managing with Aloha blog. I read a few posts and found the Hawaiian words a challenge although as I persisted it came together and am so grateful I came back for more.

I wonder if we have lost sight of the fact that the process of 'learning' often brings us into a face to face confrontation with our issues and challenges.

When that happens we have two choices, step into the ether of the moment or turn away.

Unfortunately, when we turn away from an issue we might not realize - sometimes we are also turning away from our future and our future potential.

Fear not, this is a loving, accepting, and caring community ready to support and encourage you. How do I know? Because, that has been my personal experience.

Live Large!

[Rosa Say]

Blaine I do agree that our glass is half full, in fact, more than half full! Certainly, our success here does not depend on those Learning Projects alone; you are correct in that it was, and still is, but one idea to be explored. I too am very comfortable with, and moreover exceptionally happy to have silent readers; they will participate in their own right time, or when finding their voice as you did so wonderfully. My thoughts are mostly on the side of our own personal commitment toward keeping their attention, and what it takes so we don’t become those “sloppy networkers” of your post: I am coaching myself to answer the wake-up call.

This surely does seem to be the perfect place to have this discussion, for I really like what Greg has added:

“I wonder if we have lost sight of the fact that the process of 'learning' often brings us into a face to face confrontation with our issues and challenges. When that happens we have two choices, step into the ether of the moment or turn away. Unfortunately, when we turn away from an issue we might not realize - sometimes we are also turning away from our future and our future potential.”

Our upcoming Love Affair with Books, now just 8 days away, certainly opens many, many “moments to step into!” Through their review, every single reviewer has their opportunity to reveal more of their own authenticity when connecting to the writing of another.

[Blaine Collins]

Greg - I was also struck by your message.

What I hear is that learning sometimes requires confronting issues/challenges. Failure to confront (turning away) is a less fulfilling option than dealing with issues forthrightly.

Those are lessons often learned the hard way.

I also love the tone you set - fear not; live large!