You purchase a plane ticket and fly to a new city for the first time. You take a cab to the heart of the city and then realize you're hungry for a bite to eat. You open your laptop and steal wifi, trying to find a restaurant, and realize you've left your laptop power cord at home and will need to find a replacement. You get a call on your cell from your aunt saying that she needs to buy a new digital camera and asks which one should she get, because she's standing in Best Buy right now. You see a new e-mail come in from your boss stating that you're fired.
In a bygone era, your network was your family, your neighbors, your coworkers, and a few scattered others. You lived reasonably close to some number of these people, and they knew your comings and goings as intimately as a Facebook news stream. These people knew you when you were a foolish kid, and they knew that you weren't very good at math, but that you were a hard worker. If you needed help with something, you could reach out by mail, by phone, by asking around. It took a while, but usually someone could find something.
Several of your "friends" aren't that. They're more like "friend-lies." They agree to be part of your network. You can reach more people than ever before. They're all over the world. They have different roles, different networks of their own. The combined sum of what these people know in the aggregate is exponential. They might not know you the way a cousin or a junior high school teacher would know you, but they are willing to do some level of information sharing with you.
The concept of a network means a connection of things that form something larger in sum. Networked computers mean that you can access some resources back and forth and communicate. Social networks (in the software sense) mean that the software makes a connectivity between users. Networks in the human sense mean that we have chosen to align ourselves in some form or fashion around common beliefs, goals, values, or something similar.
Organized religion works on the power of networks. So do labor unions. So do governments. Business is ultimately about networks of one kind or another.
Networks are about sharing resources. It's the same for computers, social networks, human networks, and pretty much all kinds. Thus, if you're looking to build a good network of people, sharing has to be the common link. Networks can help someone raise money quickly. They can direct lots of attention toward the same point. They can help people find jobs. They can elect government officials. They can shift power and resources seamlessly.
I think some of the value of a network comes from its numbers.
In social networks, I'm fortunate to have a reasonably good number of "friends." Partly, it's because I've been fortunate enough to attend a lot of conferences, and I've been diligent about meeting lots of people. Partly, it's because I publish a blog. Partly, it's because I do a lot of work to link things together, to form networks by inviting people to certain social networks, to accept requests from people, to build out the digital structure of such things.
Here are some quick tidbits:
I'm not in any way a "collector" of friends in social networks. At this point, I say yes to most anyone trying to connect, but I don't gather.
I don't believe in the "rule" that you must "really in real life" know someone before accepting that person as a "friend."
I don't build networks to market. I'm not a marketer. I build networks to be helpful and to deliver value in both directions.
I think the key to it all is this: "More hands lighten the load."
Here's my quick definition of value: I don't mean money. I mean the ability to deliver and receive information, to help, and to further development (of networks, information, capabilities).
I can only tell you what I believe has worked best for me. I imagine your mileage may vary. I hope others add their own ideas about building networks in the comments section at http://chrisbrogan.com/comments-from-101.
Be friendly and inclusive. When I go to conferences, I look for the fringe players, the people who aren't well known but who are interesting. Sometimes, these turn into amazingly wonderful connections.
Treat "big names" like real people, and oddly, they'll treat you like a real person. This comes in handy later, when you can be helpful.
Seek to be helpful. Always. The more you can do for others, the more that wheel comes around, should you find yourself in need.
Connect. Connect. Connect. Help others find each other. Connect people with other people as often as humanly possible. This keeps the flow moving, and it shows that you're into sharing.
Beware of network leeches. Occasionally, in trying to form communities of useful and sharing people, someone comes along who needs, needs, needs. Learn how to cut that sort away from your network. It's not rude. It's not elitist.
Diversity and opportunity are great ways to build something more interesting. Homogenous networks are only useful in a narrow scope, meaning that you should strive to meet lots of good people from lots of walks of life. You never know.
Say thank you. Often.
Do as much as you can, and then offer to help connect others to even more help, if you can.
Be as timely as possible. Help isn't much help if it's too late.
Never take credit. Always assume responsibility. Be as humble as you can muster.
Give often and long before you ever have to ask for something for you.
The power of all these social software applications is that they empower us to communicate rapidly, in a one-to-many format, and along the lines of our networks of value. To that end, be sure to use this to accomplish your goals. Make sure you know the size and depth of your personal database. Make sure your contacts and connections are well connected through these digital tools. Try to build them all such that you can respond quickly to people's needs, that you can reach the edges of your network and help others extend out to theirs, so that everyone may enjoy the full effect of that work.
Don't be evil. (Easy, right?)
I consider your participation a value of my network. The fact that you come and share your ideas and insights is wonderful to me. I'm not always near a computer to respond to every comment, but I read everything you say, and I love it when someone in the comments section of my blog communicates to someone else, and when my readers go off and blog their own take on the original idea that takes it in another direction. Thank you for this. I'm forever grateful.