It seems that until today the business person has had two broad categories of business networking membership organizations to choose from.

The first, which I refer to as structured networking groups include BNI, LeTip and a host of others that stress the importance of developing a small group of strong referral partners.

The second are those derivatives of social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Ryze that allow business people to connect virtually, via the internet, with virtually no relationship at all.

So , when it comes to business networking is it better to have a small network of strong ties or a broad network of virtual ties?

I believe the answer to this question is “neither”. Here’s why.
In his 1973 paper entitled The Strength of Weak Ties, sociologist Mark Granovetter makes a convincing case that a broad network of what he called “weak ties” is more productive than a small group of “strong ties”.

The Strength of Ties

Granovetter writes: “Most intuitive notions of the “strength” of an interpersonal tie should be satisfied by the following definition: the strength of a tie is a (probably linear) combination of the amount of time, the emotional intensity, the intimacy (mutual confiding), and the reciprocal services which characterize the tie.”

Given the definition of tie strength above, clearly the structured networking option with its weekly meetings, and category exclusivity creates a close knit group of strong-ties. And therein is its downfall. A small group of strong relationships that form around a common cause and geography has some very real limitations in its ability to reach out to the broader business community.

Conversely, internet social networking sites, it would logically appear, create a weakness of tie that Granovetter likely could never have predicted. How much time is involved in building these relationships? How emotional of a bond is created by a request to join a stranger’s network? How intimate is the relationship? What type of reciprocal services are being exchanged?

So what is a business networker to do?

Through the years my experience has shown that many of my most impactful and profitable relationships established with other business professionals were created while networking at events, lunches, social outings etc. These are not exclusive referral partners that I meet every week in a structured setting, just like minded people that I have had the good fortune to meet once or twice and then stay in touch monthly, quarterly or in some cases just a couple of times per year.

The common factor in all cases though is that I have met the individual face-to-face at least one time for a substantive conversation.

Why is that?

Elements of Face-to-Face Communication

Because the majority of human communication is NOT transmitted through the words we speak. In fact, when we meet someone face-to-face 55% of our communication is non-verbal, 37% is in the tonality of our voices and only 7% is the actual words we speak!

Makes sense then that if we meet someone, even just once we naturally will have developed a much stronger “weak tie” than we ever can hope to by simply connecting on the internet.

To meet the types of business people you want to meet, you need to meet in order to maximize your success you should be sure to visit http://www.bizblinddate.com “Business Networking Made Simple”.

BizBlindDate will:

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- Keep you from wasting time and money driving to events where you’ll meet the same people over and over again.
- Provide you with incentives for utilizing and expanding the network.

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