How do you network in a post-COVID world?
I'm brewing this idea of how to network during these covid times.
Before COVID, I could just go to a MeetUp and meet random people who shared the same interest in the theme of the MeetUp. Or if I went to a conference, I'd expect my fellow attendees to share a common ground of interest. And this used to work really well before, you know... we had to lockdown at our homes.
These are tools that I might use to network online if I want to reach to someone specific and why I don't like them so much:
- Twitter: some people don't broadcast so much on twitter and therefore you would never find them or their interests
- Facebook/Instagram: it is a too much of a personal space
- LinkedIn: there is too much spam and it is hard to approach someone if you don't know each other or have some common connection/introduction
The problem with these tools are that they serve so many other different purposes.
There are also wonderful platforms like Indie Hackers, or WIP.chat, or Makerlog where you can meet people who share similar interests, but again it is not so much about connecting people and more about broadcasting ideas or asking for help.
So what I came up so far is more like a Tinder meets LinkedIn, where you set your profile and show what you can offer, what you are working on, and what you are looking for. And then you would be shown other people's profiles, but you could only connect if both parties showed interest in each other. This way you would not spam people but only if there was a common interest in the two of you to connect.
What do you think of this idea? Would you be interested in such thing? How do you network nowadays?
I do like Linkedin for networking but it hardly gets to the personal level as a meetup. I totally agree on the clutter of the platforms mentioned.
What we do here in Barcelona for networking are small meetup groups, like 4-6 people. Most of them are actually initiated from different whatsapp groups. It surely helps to stay socialized but it hasn't got the dynamics of pre covid events.
That's pretty interesting. And those small meetup groups are just friends and friends of friends, or it is people from a certain group chat around a topic that get together (off/online)?
Well, actually both.
It originated from different coworking meetups. That's where we connected.
Eventually, the WhatsApp groups grow with friends of friends.
With the first wave, activity in those groups was low. But eventually, the need to socialize became more of a thing. Right after the first wave, the group members started posting get-togethers on different topics in these groups.
Thanks for sharing, I really like that approach of tiny meet ups around a topic. This could also be interesting on a bigger/global scale perhaps. I just joined lunchclub.com that @chitrasruthi suggested and they seem to do this matching but with only 1-on-1 and also in your region (I assume).
Lunchclub does have options to meet with people in other places, but before you see that option , you need to gather some points (by attending lunchclub meetings that the system assigns you). I once tried to connect with someone (anyone that Lunchclub picks) from South America, but the system couldn't find anyone that was available when i was available.
Hey, interesting link! Definitely going to give that a try!
If you enjoy pre-filtered networking, I’d suggest you look at Lunchclub, Superpeer and Hi Right Now.
It’s hard to replace the feeling of in-person event. But these tools allow you discover new connection based on your objective.
If you need more community related products, virtual events etc. you can get more on Virtual Mojito
I use Lunchclub.com for networking with like minded/people of interest. Their SW does a good job of matching people.
This looks very interesting, I like where they are going, thanks for sharing! This does somewhat I had in mind. How long have you been using it?
About a couple of months now. Met about 7 or so so far, all mainly SW engineers.
another one i just found https://patook.com/ . i haven't used it though.
Out of the 3 platforms you mentioned, I would actually identify a prospect on Facebook first perhaps from their insightful comments in a niche group, then see if they are on Twitter. If they are active on Twitter, then I would DM them there.
If they are not active on Twitter, then I would FB message them privately.
Last but not least, if I really really want their email, then it would be scraping cold email outreach time.
Not the best methodology but it works for me!
As a few other IHers posted, with a Tinder model, I think there would be a lot of spam but maybe with the right filtering, review ranking, it could be quite credible and helpful!
Sounds an ok approach, but it looks to me that those are business prospects you are looking for?
Yes, mainly SMB business owners with around $1m+ ARR.
Definitely more the buyer persona instead of the user persona.
There is Shapr app already and from my experience, it doesn't work. All I get there is spammers trying to sell me something.
Oh nice, thanks, this is sort of what I had in mind, although I think the spam part is really a crucial thing to fix then. I would not like to get spammed either... I didn't try it yet and I will later today, but how come do you get spammers as first you have to match with them right? Then you could be picky on which whom you connect to and decrease spam, or am I missing something here?
I am not sure if the tinder model works here.
You have two sets of people, the ones who are willing/happy to share there knowledge and the other who are looking for specific knowledge. The ones who are looking for knowledge have an incentive to search for people with specific knowledge. But the other set who are not actively looking but are willing to answer questions have no incentive. These people would need to accept everyone just to get questions. They need to put in energy two times, one time to accept every one and the second time to answer these questions but do not get really anything in return.
Is it clear what I mean? If not, I would have to formulate it again a little bit more exactly, I guess.
Yes, I understood and I agree that might happen. But networking is not just I need something from you can you help me. It could be connecting two people on the same stage of a similar project, two people working in similar fields, etc, where both can benefit from the connection.
I indeed used Tinder - as an example for matching people based on interests and other criteria - but Tinder is not the best example as I think it is (or can be) too fast/ephemeral/superficial.
I see you are a developer and I am too, so imagine this scenario that we are both building a side project using somewhat a similar stack. Why not connect and share our experiences with it? Probably we both have something to learn from each other, and not just for the developing part, but also maybe as business strategies, marketing, etc. - this is an example of what I'd imagine this app for.
ah ok, maybe I took the tinder example too seriously.
haha not at all, probably I didn't explain it well from the beginning, it is good feedback, thanks! This was the first time I put down the idea in words so there's def flaws and I'm thinking it on the go still ;)