So many people busily creating their networks. For some it almost seems an end-in-itself - people who have thousands of relationships in their networks. Is the aim simply to have as many people as possible in their network, rather than to have meaningful relationships? Is it possible to have a meaningful relationship with so many people?
For some the aim of networking is to build relationships because they might be useful - at some later, as yet uncertain, time.
Personally the value of networking for me is to be able to communicate and dialogue with like-minded people. It allows me to explore ideas and raise issues with my contemporaries. But I don’t really need to formally invite people into my network, when I can simply join a community of like-minded people. One such community is the Shared Insights Enterprise Architecture Network Community. You simply sign up to the community, rather than inviting individual people to join your network.
In many situations this is all that is needed - rather than pulling people into your network, you can push out into a community.