Bigger is always better.
While this may seem counterintuitive, it also comes with a caveat.
We often feel compelled and are even encouraged by social media platforms, to grow our networks.
Consider all the prompts about someone else you might know and who to follow.
Offline and online social networks
Both offline and online, our social networks can function as eitherprismsorpipes.
Asprisms, they broadcast to others our likes, dislikes, opinions, interests, activities, and more.
They signal who we are, or want to be, to our web link of social connections.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
Aspipes, they act as conduits through which help and resources can flow.
Using our networks as pipes is an important part of how we build relationships.
But what about online?
Thats what makes connecting online and offline so different.
We cant search and find a comment we made six days ago to a friend over coffee.
We can, however, find and reshare a conversation we had with our Facebook friends three years ago.
It turns out thats a really important distinction.
We think it suggests some broader insights.
Second, we need to have a way to actually make the exchange happen.
And finally, we need to want to conduct the exchange.
I can quickly and easily ask my online connection for something I need and get a quick response.
But our research suggests that we dont always have the willingness to ask.
This perceivedsocial judgment riskcan get in the way of entrepreneurs getting helpful resources from their online networks.
We suspect its not just entrepreneurs who are worried about this.
Audience collapsehappens when we add people to our online networks from all aspects of our lives.
With all that searching, viewing and sharing, who knows where our request might land?
This dark side implication ofbigger is bettersocial media networking is rarely discussed.
If this resonates, what can you do?
To make our social media networks useful as pipes, we suggest creatingtrust networks.
These are purpose-built to stay small yes, small.
It becomes a really useful pipe internet where small, not big, is valuable.
We think youll be glad you did.
