Yesterday, I got a comment on my blog from a LinkedIn connection, a person I haven't seen in quite some time. While I post the link on Facebook and LinkedIn every day, and I know that people read it through those sources, somehow the comments through LinkedIn surprise me. Rather, they remind me that each time I connect with people there, I am developing not just a professional network, but a sort of "neighborhood," made up of all the "neighborhoods" where I have worked or done business over, well, a fairly long stretch of time.
Now, a professional network can be a valuable thing. If you're applying for a job, LinkedIn helps you know if there are people you know who can give you an "in." But a neighborhood--that's a bit more. For, while the people in your "neighborhood" might be your links to your next job, they are also the people who surround you (literally or figuratively) where you are right now. You can see what they are doing, and they are witnesses to what you are doing as well. It can be a comforting thing to have a "neighborhood."
I may not be "borrowing a cup of sugar" from anyone in my LinkedIn "neighborhood" any time soon, but I am glad to be reminded that I am surrounded by a series of doorbells I could ring if I needed to. People as varied as the people in the Sesame Street song. The "people that I meet when I'm walking down the street"--of LinkedIn and life.
No comments:
Post a Comment