One of the fascinating things I find with social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn is that despite the global nature of these networking platforms, business people still seek out other business people who are located nearby. Have you noticed that?

I think it’s great. I deal with clients all over the country and some in the US and Europe too, but those who find me on LinkedIn, and more recently on Facebook, are almost always in my own state and often, in my suburb or close by.

For business networkers, this would seem to bring with it the opportunity to merge online social networking with face to face local networking. That’s because if you chat to local business people online, you’ll find that some of them are keen on networking offline too, and attend, or would like to attend local land based networking events. So potentially, you can head off to your local business breakfast event and meet up with one or two people you’ve networked with online. At least you’ll ‘know’ somebody!

Now some of us have been known to complain that social networking is reducing people’s ability and inclination to ‘network’ in person – but the opposite may turn out to be true, particularly for business folk. I for one am enjoying the contact with local business people I may not normally get to meet because I very rarely attend land based networking functions. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that I may be more likely to attend those functions in the future if people I have connected with on Facebook and LinkedIn are going to be present.

Are you connecting with local business people on LinkedIn and Facebook?