ROOFExpress

Few days back there was a debate going on if face to face networking is of any use when you can connect with the person electronically and meet him/her up later. Both the groups didn’t have any data to back their view point.

So I thought of conducting a small private survey to see how people like to connect in this digital world.

This survey was executed via two methods.

1)    Face to Face Networking
2)    Social Networking / Digital Networking

I reached out to a dozen people from both genders in each method half of which were from Pakistan. In one to one meeting on bus stops or at Accelerator Centre, I introduced myself and what I do in Waterloo. Cards and contacts were exchanged and later on digital/social network, around 75% (9/12) of them accepted my LinkedIn, Foursquare or Facebook request.

Moving to the other method, I wrote a script and found the same audience from Social Networks. Pakistanis in the list were extracted on the basis of Home Town: Lahore/Islamabad and currently living in Waterloo. A generic but personal introductory message was sent to everybody from my “original profile” about my name and background. Surprisingly, only 16.6% (2/12) people connected with me in 48 hours whereas 2 replied without accepting connection request that they’ll be glad to know me if introduced through mutual friend.

Concluding this I can say that though I am a big supporter of online networking, but still even in this digital age, face to face networking is the most successful way of connecting.


P.S: I apologize to all those who got my random social networking request and messages in the second method. I have cancelled all pending requests on my own knowing the output. Those who accepted are welcome to stay in my network and we should meetup soon. :)