My Page: Liz Ryan
Networking the West with Liz Ryan
Scott Allen on “Shifting the Burden”We chatted with author Scott Allen about the responsibilities of networkers; balancing the needs of individual members of online communities with the needs of the community as a whole; and what's wrong with the Elevator Speech [more]
Networking the West with Liz Ryan
Networking and PrivilegeAn "Open Connector" shares his worldview (including some angst) with me - and we both benefit. [more]
Networking the West with Liz Ryan
When Social Networks BattleTwo of the biggest online social networking sites are at war, if you listen to their members.
LinkedIn, the eleven-million-member gorilla in the business-oriented social networking space, is the place to link and be linked for U.S. businesspeople. But for Europeans and others, Xing (formerly Open BC) is the spot. Users compare the two sites' functionality and find Xing "friendlier," LinkedIn more robust. Speculation abounds on user group email lists (like MyLinkedinPowerForum) about whether one of the sites is to be sold, or whether one will buy the other. Right now, it's a standoff: as much as Americans like to say "Why join another social networking site when everyone's who's anyone is on LinkedIn?", plenty of businesspeople outside the US have yet to budge from Xing or a third, also less U.S.-centric networking site, ecademy.
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Networking the West with Liz Ryan
Save the Coffee, What I’d Really Like is Your NetworkI get a little mini-buzz when I've been corresponding with someone online (or sharing observations with them on an email group) and I find that they are local. Then, we can get together in person and get to know one another.
This happened a couple of weeks ago. I saw some posts that a gentleman had written on an online networking forum, and I wrote to him directly (off-list). I said "I just realized that you are in Denver. Would you like to get together for coffee?"
He wrote back. Here's what he said.
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Networking the West with Liz Ryan
Latest Online Networking “Are You Kidding?” Story;-) Here is one of those shake-your-head stories about online networking and how normal, everyday person-to-person communication can get bollixed up when the conversation moves online [more]
Networking the West with Liz Ryan
Connection is the New ManiaBack in 1999 when I started my first email group in Chicago (called ChicWIT), most of my friends didn't know what a list-serv was. Today, they know. In 2003 when I got my first LinkedIn invitation, I didn't know what to make of it. Now, my friends have hundreds of LinkedIn contacts and I read about a dozen LinkedIn requests a day. Like lots of other LinkedIn users, I've reached the state where I'm "cutting the cord" on my connections as often as I add new ones -- actually, more often. Live and learn. As soon as there is a new channel, LinkedIn being one example, people will figure out how to get obsessive about it. [more]
Networking the West with Liz Ryan
New West Networking GroupThe New West readers are spread across a large geographic area. Networking events in most of our locations are not large. So, we set up an email discussion group to help New West readers network with one another.
The group is called New West Networking and everyone is welcome. Visit this link to join, or send a blank email message to newwestnetworking-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Or, write to me at liz@asklizryan.com if you have trouble joining.
There are plenty of ways for us to help one another in our businesses and otherwise. Let's see what we can make happen by getting connected.
Networking the West with Liz Ryan
Your Good Deed for the Day: An EndorsementWhen I was a Girl Scout back in the days when three-quarters of the girls in any elementary school were Girl Scouts, we used to talk about doing a good deed every day. Today, I don't whether we don't have time to do good deeds, or we do them and just don't talk about them, but good deeds seem to have dropped out of the conversation. Now that online networking is on the scene, it is possible to do good deeds anytime you get the urge. Here's how to do it: endorse a person you know.
Endorsements are a big deal on LinkedIn, for instance. Endorsements build credibility for LinkedIn users and are a factor in users' search rankings (for instance, when someone searches for Marketing people in Denver). There is another thing about endorsements that is important, too: the quality of the endorsement itself says a lot about the person being endorsed. That is, a more intelligent and pithy endorsement says not only "this person has colleagues who respect him" but also "this colleague has smart and articulate colleagues who respect him" (or her, of course).
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