20 web sessions

10th Web session at the Centre for legal studies and specialised training Social networks on internet: the added value of our contacts.

Albert Armengol holds a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the Barcelona Autonomous University (UAB), an MBA from ESADE and is founder of eConozco www.econozco.com, the world’s first on-line Spanish language contact network. The event was introduced by Joan Xirau, Director of the Centre for legal studies and specialised training.

Hall of the Centre for legal studies and specialised training, 16 October 2007. 170 people attended.

On a face-to-face level, networking is the development and dissemination of good management of our networks of personal and professional contacts.

On-line social networks Together with forums, wikis, e-mail, instant messaging and blogs, social networking programs are tools which help to construct an organisation’s knowledge through cooperation.

It is interesting to observe the differences in the graphic representation of contact networks in organisations: organisational relations, corresponding to the hierarchy, and inter-personal relations, which are those we refer to as social networking.

What is networking?

Networking consists in developing and sharing our network of contacts; it is, then, a very suitable resource for developing cooperative work projects. There are two types: personal and professional.

Within networking we can distinguish between strong links (contacts with whom we share a group of contacts similar to our own) and weak links (people we have just met). Strong links provide a framework of trust while weak links provide diversity and it is desirable to strengthen them through network projects.

What is on-line networking?

On-line networking (social networking software) involves a network of professional contacts which can be extended to the contacts of our existing contacts. In this way an extensive network of relations can be built up.

Through on-line networking we can find people whom it would be very difficult to contact otherwise. Online networking thus allows us to be in the right place at the right time.

The concept of on-line networking first appeared around 2002 on open websites. To join a social networking website, we first need to post a good professional profile or CV, so that we will be accessible to people who may want to contact us (passive visibility).

Within on-line networking, there are social and professional networks. From a geographical perspective, networks range from local (such as e-Catalunya http://ecatalunya.gencat.net, with communities promoted by the Government of Catalonia or which are Catalan in scope) to others which are international, such as the German Xing (which has bought eConozco and Neurona and is the leader in Europe) and Linked-in (leader in the English-speaking world).

Conclusion. “Dig the well before you are thirsty” (Chinese proverb) Just as we can determine specific uses for other internet tools (forum = discussion; blog = expression of implicit knowledge, conversation; wiki = joint production of final document), social networking programmes help us to manage and extend our network of contacts efficiently and facilitate the structuring of collective intelligence.

Diffusion service. Barcelona, October 2007