Cons of Networking

I found the New Yorker article, "Six Degress of Lois Weisberg", extremely interesting, and so true. Its unreal to think just how essential these connectors, like Lois Weisberg, are in life itself, but also to make a business successful and productive. The article mentioned a study that found that people are likely to be friends with someone that partake in similar activities. People are more likely to be friends if they are in close proximity to each other. But, with virtual networks such as Facebook and MySpace, people can connect and stay in touch with people that are from all over. Virtual tools also enable people at work to connect and collaborate with each other.

However, there must be a downside to all this networking and connectivity, especially in businesses. College students joke about how they spend hours on Facebook or AIM instead of writing their paper due the next day. There is definitely a distracting element of constantly connecting at work. No longer are workers confined to the watercooler chit-chat, or the lunch break. Today there are constant e-mails, AIM messages, and cell phones. Though these tools have the convenience of speed, they can definately be distracting.

Managers that are constantly networking tend to get promoted quicker, hence they tend to be more "successful." However, effective managers spend more of their time at the office doing their job, leaving little time to network. So how do you balance social networking? How much is too much?