Social media can feel a little like the arms race – everybody rushing to stock pile followers, contacts, and connections. Do you collect friends on Facebook or followers on Twitter like baseball cards? You might want to reconsider this strategy. T he old way of marketing and networking was “How Many?” The better approach is “Who?” And a new study has just come out that backs that up. It seems the more online contacts you have, the less networking power you have. This is according to new research done by Professor Zsolt Katona from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, Professor Miklos Sarvary from INSEAD in France, and Peter Pal Zubcsek, a Ph.D. Candidate at INSEAD.
The study found to get the most out of social networking efforts, it’s very important for people to communicate with their network. The more friends you have, the harder it is to respond and stay on top of your network and respond to the messages and posts. Therefore, your networking power is weaker than someone who has less friends but stays in better touch with them.
So what does this mean to you?
There are three points that I take away from this:
- Keep your friend list manageable (number might be different for everyone)
- You have to use the tools to be effective. This means you must dedicate time everyday to use it and working your network
- Use the tools to set up face to face meeting when possible. If you’re going to be in another city on business, let your network know and try to set up some meetings.
<