Introvert networking tips and musing on linguistic issues

I’ve long known I’m an introvert. Over the years I’ve developed a way of coping that I’m mostly satisfied with, but wish to improve.

It hasn’t occurred to me, however, to go looking for literature on how other introverts deal with the extroverted world. Not until this spring, that is, when I stumbled on Marcy Phelps’s Power Networking for Introverts blog. Another helpful read was Marti Laney Olsen’s The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World. It’s a positive how-to guide with practical tips for work and personal life as well as raising introverted children. Especially helpful is the definitions of introvert, shy, schizoid, and highly sensitive – not at all the same things.

It was also quite a revelation to find ‘innies’ among seasoned prosessionals and presenters (like Mary Ellen Bates in the LIS world).

Armed with better self-awareness, I’m on the lookout for networking and presenting tips. Here are a few:

• 75+ Tips on Becoming a Better Networker by Jessica Hupp.

Plenty of useful advice, like Focus on quality over quantity, or Keep an updated profile [online]. It’s surprising how often the latter is neglected.

• How to Network: 12 Tips for Shy People by Meredith Levinson.

Squeezed in by other material and broken up over five pages. Worth a read, despite some unfortunate (dare I say inflammatory?) wording. (If you want to skip something, though, this would be my recommendation.)

• 25 articles on networking for shy people by Curt Rosengren.

Helpful reference, even though it lumps shy and introverted people together, which is misleading.

All via Power Networking for Introverts.

Online networking:

• Eight Secrets of Effective Online Networking by Beth Kanter.

Concentrates on social networking sites, but her advice has wider applications as well.

Via Stephen’s Lighthouse.

Isn’t it peculiar, though, that the term networking has morphed into the noun phrase social networking in connection to our online activities, even when the meaning still clearly stays the same? Networking is inherently social; why would we want another term for it? I suspect it’s not just the new platform, I suspect we’re marking different connotations with the noun phrase. It seems that social networking appears in contexts that suggest less professional attitudes or expectations than traditional networking.

What do you think?