Some people like Networking, others dont! Some people enjoy interacting on a face-to-face basis: but many find this awkward, stressful and unproductive.

What about you? Do you enjoy meeting new people, and chatting in a friendly and welcoming manner? Do you derive real benefits from Networking? Do you wish there could be another way of developing business contacts other than by having to force a conversation with someone you can tell you have nothing in common?

Online Networking could prove to be a very valuable alternative to face-to-face interactions. If you subscribe to a good Online Networking service you will probably find you can make many more contacts with people which prove to be worthwhile for both of you.

Lets compare the advantages and disadvantages of both types of Networking. When you are interacting face to face, you get a much better feel for the personality of the person you are talking with. You can develop a mutual respect, and maybe an ongoing business relationship will result. This is not so easy with Online Networking, where your communication is usually in electronic form, via emails.

So are there any advantages in Online Networking? Well, for a start you can be more selective as to who you want to meet. At a Networking event you tend to be spending time with someone who has approached you, or else with someone you thought (judging just from the way they look) might be of interest. When you network online you can usually learn a lot about the person from the Profile before you make the decision to contact that person or not.

To be sure, often the online contact you make wont lead anywhere. You might exchange several emails, and then find that you or the other person doesnt bother to respond any more. But then, how many of the people you meet at a typical Networking event do you stay in touch with afterwards?

Another advantage of Online Networking is that it is more efficient, simply because it takes up much less of your valuable time. At a Networking event you need to spend time getting yourself ready; then you need to travel to and fro; and you might only have meaningful discussions with a few people there anyway.

With Online Networking, it will only take a few minutes to send off a friendly and enticing email to someone with whom you already know you have points in common. And, providing you write the email in an appropriate manner, the recipient will probably feel mildly flattered that you have made the effort to get in touch.

This is assuming you have subscribed to a networking web site which makes these kinds of contact easy. Go to the Networking Knowledge web site to learn more.

Of course, you dont need to make any decision to join right now .. but dont let that stop you if you are already convinced of the benefits. Over the coming weeks Ill be delving into some of the distinctive features and advantages of Online Networking, and there will be lots of interesting points to make.