Making Quality Connections in Business
It is widely believed that everyone is no more than six degrees away from anyone else in the world, including Kevin Bacon. Also called the "Human Web," the theory goes that we're only one step away from each person we know, two steps away from the people they know and, at most, six steps away from everyone on Earth.
How quaint. Who needs six degrees in the age of social media? Connections are only a click away. Today, you need only two degrees. Maybe three.
Sure, social media and blogs give us instant platforms. The most important and mundane information is often available in seconds. We can get news, opinions and answers to any question in less time it takes to ask.
We have instant one-to-one access to each other. But how deep are those relationships? Truth is, social media brings us closer together but also drives us further apart. We reveal everything without ever really speaking. We talk at each other much more than we talk with each other. We comment more than we communicate. And in 140 characters or less.
Of course, social media is an essential tool, especially in the business of communications. But social media cannot replace the human connection; it cannot be our only form of communication.
Constantly connecting is essential; not just through social media or e-mail, but by writing notes, making calls, having meetings and attending events. A little human touch in our relationships is essential! At Krupp Kommunications (K2), the award-winning public relations agency I founded nearly 15 years ago, we call these valued relationships "Konnections."
So how deep do your Konnections go? Hugs or "I wouldn't know them if I bumped into them on the street?" "Followers" and "friends" are just names on a mailing list. The rise of social media and the fall of degrees of separation have placed a premium on the QUALITY of our Konnections, not just the number.
Real Konnections lay the foundation for future deals. Real Konnections get your next pitch listened to immediately while everyone else waits for a reply.
Those who grew up without social media, playing "Six Degrees of Separation," have a real advantage. Eye contact deteriorated when we started relying on e-mail, texts, tweets and comments. We may communicate using social media, but our Konnections are what get us where we need to go.
Published by Heidi Krupp
Combining passion, vision and $5,000 from the sale of her '89 Toyota Celica, Heidi Krupp launched Krupp Kommunications (K2) in 1996 from her studio apartment in Hoboken, New Jersey. Over the years, K2 has la... View profile
Microsoft Study Proves the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon A social networking study by Microsoft has resulted in the number 6.6. This is the average number of people that separates one person from another person anywhere in the world....- Finding a Social Media "Home"Learn to invest your efforts wisely by focusing on participating constructively, authentically and prolifically in one or two social media communities.
- Higher Education Approach to Social MediaUniversities and colleges are missing a great opportunity by ignoring social media, and if they do use it, there are some guidelines to get started.
- Queerbook to Enter the Realm of Gay Social MediaEntrepreneurs are working on making a new gay social media site.
- NBA Bans Twitter with New Social Media GuidelinesThe new NBA social media guidelines are probably a good idea, because it will allow players to again focus more attention on the game preparation as well as "team time".
- Purdue University Presents Six Degrees of Separation
- Six Degrees of Separation: The Early Mathematical Theories
- Six Degrees of Separation: The Play and Film Adaptation
- The Six Degrees of Separation and the Collaboration of Obfuscation
- Who is Freddie Fackelmayer: The Five Degrees of Separation for Freddie and Fame
- Six Degrees of Bill Gates.
- Six Degrees of Separation
2 Comments
Post a CommentHi Cathy! The point that I see is "quality connections is important--in life as well as in business" and also, I see that she backs that statement up in her own unique way by almost begging the reader (as it sure did me) to want to inquire more information about it. I think that's the point too!
Also, what I think the writer conveys so marvelously in the article (and to add my own 2cents) is that, "Because it's a part of our human nature (and also because it's beneficial to us) to connect well with others around us using our natural and given communicative senses, the QUALITY and not QUANTITY of our conscious-driven CONNECTIONS with others, therefore, is and ought to be very important to us as individuals and as a civilized society--and definitely not to be taken for granted--especially during these times with the purposeful and alluring advancement of modern technology (where the effected rare and expensive, so to speak, QUALITY of different aspects in relationships isn't always quit
I'm sorry, but this article made no sense. Well written, but there are 100 ways to say the same thing and still say nothing. It was excruciatingly painful to read, bc you couldn't find the point of it. What is this article about?