Benefits to Online Networking

I would like to respond to a comment yesterday from energygirl. Her comment was, "Words of wisdom for this dinosaur. What has been your experience of the value in networking online/having an online networking presence? I'd like to learn more."

I have been using LinkedIn for a about seven months. My profile is here. I contacted former colleagues and college friends and linked up with them. I was also contacted by quite a few of them on their own. It is great to be able to see what people are up to, follow their careers and see who they are connected with.

I have asked for introductions from my connections to their contacts that I would like to meet and have made new contacts this way. I have seen very little business come through this effort, but I am still looking at the long term possibilities that can come of it.

I have also used MySpace, but that has been purely for social networking; catching up with college friends, friends who have moved away and even friends from high school. It is fun, but not at all business related.

The awareness for today is to try something new. Set up an account on LinkedIn (it is free), post your work and education history and begin catching up with old colleagues. It cannot hurt and maybe one of those old colleagues happens to have a need that you can fill and the timing may work out perfectly. Let me know how it goes.
~Paul