Networking Tips from A Pro: Charlene Li

I've been following Charlene Li ever since I heard her speak at opening keynote at the first BlogHer Conference in 2005. She's smart, she's insightful, she rocks.  Here's the official bio:

Charlene Li is an independent thought leader on emerging technologies, with a specific focus on social technologies, interactive media, and marketing. She has a blog, "The Altimeter" that discusses these topics at blog.altimetergroup.com. She is also the co-author of the business bestseller, "Groundswell: Winning In A World Transformed By Social Technologies", published by Harvard Business Press in May 2008.

I'm leading a discussion about professional networking over at SocialEdge this week.  (Come join us)  I was thrilled to see this post from Charlene Li about professional networking tips.

Her response to the question about "What online tools do you use to help you network?"

As you can expect, I use LinkedIn and Facebook a lot for networking. For the longest time, I've tried to be exclusive about who I accepted as a "friend" but gave up on that given my visibility in the space. So I pretty much accept any invitation. But I use these sites, as well as Twitter and FriendFeed, to stay up on what people are doing. If I have a one on one meeting, I'll check out their online profiles, updates, and blog, so that I'm up to date. And I'm always impressed when someone has done their homework on me, even down to the last tweet that I made before a meeting.

I also use Facebook and sites like Upcoming to find out who is going to an event in advance. I may send a note to someone, letting them know that I'll be there, and hope to connect.

I like how she connects online/offline networking and that we can't loose the importance of connecting face-to-face and at conferences - and how these tools can extend your networking capacity before as well after an event.

Charlene also references another important issue - the issue of your friending policies if you are using these tools to support or enhance a professional network.   It made me think that I have slightly different approaches on different spaces.   I am also thinking about making my "friending" policies more formal.

Flickr: On flickr, I pretty much friend people who request it.  However, I do look at their photos first.  And I take a quick look, and scream EWWW.   I don't friend them.  Many times I can I do see an visual connection or I might know of the person by reading their profile.

Facebook:  I will immediately approve a friend request on Facebook if I recognize them or know or have recently met them.  But, if someone I don't immediately recognize requests to be friends - then I will ask them why they want to be friends - time permitting.  What has been happening lately - because I get so many request s - I end up ignoring them.    If someone sends a personal message with some context about why they want to be friends, then I will friend them. 

Twitter: My updates are unlocked.  This is my "loosest" network. 

LinkedIn:   I treat LinkedIn as my rolodex and tend to friend people who I know or have met.  I tend to use LinkedIn quite to network through my contacts to find people I'm specifically looking for.

What's your friending policy on different sites?  How does it support your professional networking strategies?  How do you connect your online and offline professional networking tactics?

Other posts

• Is A Social Media Friend Really A Friend? by Mark Dykeman
• How I Think About My Social Networks by Scott Monty
• No, I'm Not Ignoring You by Scott Monty
• Social Media Etiquette by Chris Brogan
• Can Facebook Replace Face to Face by Social Citizen Blog

Comments

[Tuan]

nice too meet you!

[Paul Schneider]

Beth, I was lucky enough to see Charlene speak while she was in Phoenix last week. To her point and yours, social networking is about building relationships. Just like you have 'policies' as to how you deal with relationships in the physical world, it is good to have a general plan of how you deal with people in the virtual world. Although as those worlds are converging more and more, sometimes I actually find myself being more open to connections online because of the unexpected dividends they can offer in day to day life.

[Ashley Messick]

You both bring up some great points in your respective "friending" policies so thank you for sharing and starting the juices flowing in my own mind. It has been interesting for me to reflect also on how my policies have changed as my use of social networks have changed. At 24 years old now, I was a sophomore at the University of Texas when I first started using Facebook. My policy then was very much centered around my highschool and college relationships. However, upon graduating I had to reconsider not only my "friending" policies but also my policies on appropriate content.

I also think that policy is definitely tied in to PURPOSE, something you both brushed on. It has definitely been something where I have had to recently sit down and redefine my purpose when it comes to social media tools so that I can improve both my online and offline networking skills. Thank you both for the tips.

[Mark Dykeman]

Beth:

Thanks for linking out to my Mashable post about social media friends. I'm glad that you found it to be a useful resource.

Regards,

Mark Dykeman

[Barbara Kelly]

Beth: I ditto your comments about the thoughtfulness and insight of Charlene Li. I came across her slide presentation, "The Future of Social Networks," earlier this year (link below) and think it's one of the best I've seen.....love her pronouncement that "social networks will be like air" and her graphical representation of her own social network.

http://www.slideshare.net/charleneli/the-future-of-social-networks/