Networking: Sparks and Smoke

by Byron Woodson II

Social networking. It can be shallow. Let's face it. You go to events, you talk to people, you hope for something to fall out of that social-networking money tree. It may. It may not.

Think about that, 'networking' seems so shallow. You don't get anything done. You just talk. At least with work, you get something accomplished during the day (even if your accomplishment is sneaking breaks). But with networking, it seems so empty. All you do is talk to people, meet people and talk to more people.

So how do you get out of that networking hamster wheel? Well, you have to do something productive. You have to run somewhere, not just run. Better put, you have to network to get something accomplished, not just network. Most people network in ways that doesn't get anything specific accomplished. They just 'connect' (here are the shades of networking).

However, sometimes networking can be the precursor to productivity, the spark before the fire. At the same time, networking can be the smoke that is evidence of a fire, something important, interesting or unique going on.

What you have to do is to figure out what kind of networking you want to do: do you want to start a fire, or do you want to fan the flames?

Social Networking as a Spark:
Networking occurs as a spark when two, or more, people meet and agree to get something accomplished. For the most part, this is usually something you want to get accomplished, and you have to pour a lot of sweat equity into to pull off. This can be the start of a community organization cleaning up a neighborhood, fighting a terminal disease, starting a business or even going out on a few dates with someone. Sometimes you interact people to get something started, other times you want to fan the flames of an already-running engine.

Social Networking as Smoke:
Networking as smoke is a different animal. When you hear of 'crowdsourcing' and 'smart mobs', these are events that take place when tens, hundreds or thousands of like-minded individuals discover their common interest and come to celebrate. Events such as craft expos, medical conferences and fairs happen when an assortment of people get together to display, celebrate

Which is for you?
Are you networking for smoke or are you networking for sparks? If you want to start a business or an organization that serves an underserved need, you're networking as a sparker. People who want to assemble masses of people who are already creating things, thinking new ideas or somewhere in between, those are people who fan the flames of those individuals to create smoke signals.

You're not one or the other:
Nobody is solely one or the other. What are three things you'd like to start, get the spark going? What are three things you'd like to get everyone to be aware of, to smoke people out of their nooks and crannies? And remember, when you talk to someone, find out what they want to spark or smoke out.

Do this:
Pick one of those three things you'd like to spark, and call three people you think might be interested in helping you and talk to them about it.

Pick one of the three things you'd like to smoke people out of, and call three people you know doing that kind of thing and throw an event where they bring other people doing their thing too!

Don't know anyone? Ask around! It's called networking!

[author's note: I wrote this before I heard about SparkNetworking in Philadelphia]