I was having a discussion with a colleague and dear friend I’ve worked with from the start of my career.
Our discussion centered on the transformation we are experiencing in business networking. We still network and always have; this is nothing new. But today many of us have added new and different tools in order to network, interact and keep in touch.
New tools include Linked In, Facebook and Twitter, to name a few. We debated whether this transformation is revolutionary, or good old fashioned evolution toward better ways and tools to accomplish the same networking, interacting and keeping in touch.
Different Methods, Same Goals
The ways we experience the world, communicate and use technology have always evolved over time. We no longer use a horse and buggy as our primary means of transportation today, but we still need to get ourselves from one location to the next. Our technologies have evolved but our goal is still the same: getting from one place to another in the most efficient way possible. As habits form over time we hear the expression: how did we ever live without this? As we get comfortable and incorporate new tools into our daily world, the experience becomes a natural evolution.
Same Old Social Networking, New Business Communication Tools
The popularity of social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter has fueled the growing adaptation to this evolution. So I’m a strong proponent that businesses should and will embrace newer and effective ways to make business communication more interesting, productive and efficient. We need to adapt to stay in the game.
So if this is natural evolution, what about the revolution? We concluded that the revolution happens as we become less tolerant more quickly of poor business practices. We grow closer faster through social networks. We talk about the business downturn and when it will end. This is fueling a revolution to question and do better than we did before. In some case we have to, in others we need to and hopefully in most cases we want to do better.
I thought this was an interesting discussion to share. What are your thoughts? Speaking of social media sites, tune in next week for a few tips on how to keep LinkedIn groups relevant to members.