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| Image via CrunchBase |
Networking used to mean exchanging business cards, mentoring and being mentored, plus building spiderweb connections of similar interests--through organizations or groups. Younger people latched on later. They began to see networking as something to begin in high school through team activities and extra-curricular interests. This became part of building college application resumes. They carried networks into college, expanding them, and made new webs, all that could go with them, with various levels or attachments, into first jobs and forward.
Think of how the Internet emerged for most of us, beyond the confines of offices. The personal computers moved quickly from word processing and spread sheets to a "World Wide Web" that was a new, happenin' thing that transported, in a blink, information and conversations all over the world.
I still get a kick out of are FB, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It's weird sometimes how someone's comment, Tweet, or profile update can get my attention just when I was looking for links or info someone else or a group is sharing.
If you're still a FB hold-out, you've likely asked, "What's the point?" Here's the thing: you have to try it to find out if there is something in it for your interests. I like that you can leave it for a while, remaining a member with your ID and password intact, and come back much later.
I know people that view these networks as time-consuming, habit-forming, and possibly addictive or dangerous. They will not sign up to try it. Sometimes I "get" that, and at other times I think "You're missing something...maybe a lot." It depends on how you use anything, and definitely networking can become all of the feared things, including addictive. Like anything, you need to know why you use it at any time and you need to control it, not the other way around (she typed as she wrote after midnight).
Are you crazy or just adventurous to post personal information on a network? I post less than most, I think...not sure. My main reason for joining Facebook was to give or get publishing and writing news. I use FB about once or twice a month, I guess. I'm not a chatter online...usually.
Over a year ago and out of the blue, I used Facebook every day for, I don't know...several weeks or months. It seemed a long time, and so worth it! With no face to face meeting, my husband and I met an extended family through mutual childhood friends of mine. My husband got involved in a young couple and grandparents' adoption journey by e-mail, attachments, phone, and FB.
The adoptive parents, far from home due to glitches in an overseas adoption, wrote often on Facebook, especially the mom, who was the one who stayed with their child wiating for visa clearances...for a long time. We could sense how special this family was, through the notes and comments. Their friends from different parts of the world, as well as the U.S., followed and sent notes back and forth.
You can imagine what an extraordinary thing this was...from far, far away to a network web that was as close as a computer with access. A host of the couple's family, friends, and contacts got involved in hoping and praying, working and waiting for one end...a child to be in a new home with his parents. We felt very, very close when everyone was back home, and we got together for the first time.
FB made that shared journey something really special, and made the flow maybe a bit better for the parents, especially the mom who was waiting for red tape to clear so that she and her already legally adopted child could go home. We all used FB to send encouragement often.We got the thrill of posted photos and notes in return. We saw the child, his beaming, healthy, happy countenance! Wow!
The doors this technology opens have important "locking" mechanisms. It's not a safe picnic out there. Once inside the door, privacy awareness and discretion are needed, as to how much to share with a wide audience on this ever-expanding Web that covers the world. If FB changes privacy policies, we'll all hear about it, and decide what to do, I hope. Even now, due to Google's changes, I'm using Google search engine less and Bing and others more, to spread searches around. And to sign in to FB, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Over a year ago and out of the blue, I used Facebook every day for, I don't know...several weeks or months. It seemed a long time, and so worth it! With no face to face meeting, my husband and I met an extended family through mutual childhood friends of mine. My husband got involved in a young couple and grandparents' adoption journey by e-mail, attachments, phone, and FB.
The adoptive parents, far from home due to glitches in an overseas adoption, wrote often on Facebook, especially the mom, who was the one who stayed with their child wiating for visa clearances...for a long time. We could sense how special this family was, through the notes and comments. Their friends from different parts of the world, as well as the U.S., followed and sent notes back and forth.
You can imagine what an extraordinary thing this was...from far, far away to a network web that was as close as a computer with access. A host of the couple's family, friends, and contacts got involved in hoping and praying, working and waiting for one end...a child to be in a new home with his parents. We felt very, very close when everyone was back home, and we got together for the first time.
FB made that shared journey something really special, and made the flow maybe a bit better for the parents, especially the mom who was waiting for red tape to clear so that she and her already legally adopted child could go home. We all used FB to send encouragement often.We got the thrill of posted photos and notes in return. We saw the child, his beaming, healthy, happy countenance! Wow!
Jean Purcell
Opine eStore and Book Cafe
Feb. 29, 2012-Election 2012
