Forget ‘networking’ — just connect with people you find interesting
Stop treating it like a chore and think about what you want from it.
How to connect with people online without being a creep
I’m a writer. My background is in technology journalism, mostly on the service journalism side, and Twitter is the main place I connect with other writers. I follow writers I admire, occasionally respond to their messages, and become close with them over time. We help each other find work. If someone’s in town, we’ll hang out. It’s nice.
Connecting with people improves your life, but it’s hard, especially online. If you don’t know how to start, you might think that you’re being a huge creep. You’re not. I’ve written abouthow to small talk while working remotely, and the general principles are the same on just about any social network. Here are a few tips:
In summary: try to be a good hang.
If you add to the conversation, and make using the internet better, people will like having you around online. If you make life worse, they won’t. Over time, you’ll find yourself in online friendships, which are actually just friendships.
Connect with people, then connect them to each other
I’m an immigrant — at least, I’m an immigrant if you consider Canadians who move to the United States immigrants. At one point, a fellow immigrant — this one from Russia — asked me how one goes about getting jobs in America. Specifically, jobs in tech.
I had no idea how to answer that question. First of all, while I work in tech, I hardly took a traditional path. I went from journalism to IT to tutorial writing to somehow writing about my feelings and calling it content marketing. I couldn’t help anyone recreate my career trajectory if I wanted to.
So I said what I’d say to anyone: connect with people. Go to meetups. Hang out with people online. Don’t do this with the expectation of getting a job; do this because talking to people is great, and talking to people interested in the same things as you is even better.
Then, when you need help, ask. I sincerely enjoy connecting friends who are looking for jobs with friends who are trying to hire. I promise your friends will feel the same way. This isn’t why you should connect with people — that’s a terrible way to live. But your career, and everything else about your life, will be better if you connect with people, online or off.
This article by Justin Pot was originally published on theZapier blogand is republished here with permission. You can read the original articlehere.
Story byJustin Pot
Justin Pot is a staff writer at Zapier who previously wrote for How-to Geek, Digital Trends, and TNW. He loves technology, people, and natur(show all)Justin Pot is a staff writer at Zapier who previously wrote for How-to Geek, Digital Trends, and TNW. He loves technology, people, and nature, not necessarily in that order. You can follow Justin:@jhpot. You don’t have to. But you can.
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