Friendships and Business Forged Through Social Networks

Next Friday, October 26, 2007 women of all entrepreneurial stripes will be gathering for the Women’s Entrepreneur Expo; Living the Dream in Springfield, VA.  Hosted by the Women’s Business Center and the Community Business Partnership this event was sold out almost two-weeks early. What is interesting about this year’s conference is the inclusion of a breakout session on blogging, podcasting and social networking. For the purpose of full and open disclosure I confess to you now that I am the invited presenter at the conference on this topic.  And I’m not ashamed to tell you that I am unabashedly excited about this subject.   

For the novice or even the most intrepid entrepreneur it can seem intimidating, daunting and even mysterious to figure out what new media choices and/or strategies are good options building a stellar business network.  Among our friends and colleagues it has become a common and reoccurring theme of our discussions; what’s hot and what’s not in emerging social networking tools and whose blogging and podcasting what.  The usual questions range from “Are you on LinkedIn and if so how many connections do you have?”  Do you have a MySpace or FaceBook page?  Do you have a blog?  The more yes’ the more your stature of expertise rises in your peers eyes.

This past week Stan Relihan, one of my LinkedIn Connections in Australia, released his inview with me for his Podcast program; The Connections Show.  So far we’ve received thumbs up reviews from our listeners and invite you to give a listen.  Stan and I have never met in person, however, if you ask either of us if we believe that we found value in our LinkedIn relationship or friendship we would both say a resounding YES!