Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Normally the charms of business networking are lost on me, the industrious wiles generating naught but pounding headaches and stacks of disposable business cards. The worthwhile connections are there, I imagine, though they’re quickly eclipsed by other concerns: how I can shout repeatedly without growing hoarse, for instance, or how best to pretend that alcohol is delicious.

It works for some people–indeed, they may even enjoy it–but if you’re wired differently, you may want to give LinkedIn a spin. I’m late to the table, per my usual custom, and now I’m hooked on its clean, fast interface and ease-of-use. This is the current state of affairs, anyhow. Heaven knows what will happen after the sheer force of the Internet erodes its shores in a few years. Look at MySpace, case in point, once model social networking service turned revolving door for angsty teens and the pedos who love them. LinkedIn is insulated from this kind of stuff partly because of its focus on business, I believe, wherein it doesn’t facilitate the local union of angsty teens connecting with, say, a wholesaler of trench coats, who in turn is two degrees separated from, like, Playgr0undHunter242. Its infrastructure guards against it.

Since last we spoke, I’ve got the loan and location pieces of the puzzle down for this real estate thing. The excitement is palpable, let me tell you, especially after some dude tried to sell me Lacoste shirts by the dumpster this weekend.

“I sell Luh-cawst shirts, man,” he said, proceeding to open the trunk of his sports car.

“La-who?”

We didn’t really network.