Image from WikipediaFrom a post today from Jonathan Farrington’s blog called “Are You Really An Effective Networker?”

Networking effectiveness starts with a positive personal attitude and an understanding that successful networking is built on a spirit of giving and sharing and not of bargaining and keeping score.

I love the last line in the quote above.   It’s like, dude…if you’re networking simply to see how many connections you can get, please!  But if you look at networking as a conversation and a relationship – it can be more sucessful or at least more fruitful.

I think of it like all these guys (Robert Scoble and  Jason Calacanus) who try and see how many Twitter followers they can aquire or facebook friends.  (And I understand they are looking at more as marketing than networking.)  But they are definitely not engaging people in two-way conversation, they cannot keep up if 10,000 Twiiter-fans and facebook friends are asking for help.

I think of it as more art than science myself, but there are definitely formulas to success.