Email more popular than phone for networking

Businesswomen Prefer Email to Telephone When Networking, Increase Usage of LinkedIn and Facebook by Double-Digits

New survey by The Downtown Women's Club documents dramatic increases by women networking online through email, social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook, and business blogs. The survey tracks changes over a two-year period.

Cohasset, MA (PRWEB) October 23, 2008 -- The Downtown Women's Club (www.downtownwomensclub.com), a professional network and career website for women, surveyed 800 businesswomen about their online networking habits.

Key trends include: (1) the preference of email to phone networking; (2) the dominance of LinkedIn as an online networking tool; (3) double-digit gains in the use of professional and social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook; (4) an increase in the use of blogs for business networking; and (5) Gen Y citing the Daily Show, blogs and social networks as regular sources of political news and information.

Key Findings:

According to the Downtown Women's Club 2008 Online Networking Survey: How Social is Your Media? (.PDF) in-person (face-to-face) is still the most popular way to network just as it was in 2006. However, the big change from the Downtown Women's Club's 2006 Online Networking survey is in the number two position. Today, more businesswomen in all generations now prefer email (82%) to the telephone (64%) when it comes to networking. The difference between email and telephone preferences is even more pronounced in Generation Y where 86% rely heavily on email networking and only 45% like the telephone.

How do you go about your networking?

Survey Question: How do you go about your business networking (all generations combined)?

1. In person - 94% in 2008, up from 92% in 2006
2. Email- 82% in 2008, up from 63% in 2006
3. Phone - 64% in 2008, down from 66% in 2006
4. LinkedIn - 59% in 2008, up from 24% in 2006
5. Facebook - 32% in 2008, up from 17% in 2006
6. Blogs - 27% in 2008; didn't ask in 2006.

Survey Question: Which of the following online tools/services do you use (all generations combined)?

1. LinkedIn - 89%
2. Facebook - 63%
3. Yahoo or Google groups - 48%
4. Myspace - 28%
5. Classmates.com - 26%
6. Plaxo - 23%
7. Twitter - 21%
8. Meetup - 20%
9. Flickr - 13%
10. del.icio.us - 10%

Click here to read complete release.

Comments

[Dani Nordin]

I agree that e-mail is popular for networking, but I have to wonder if it's really effective. For example, I've seen a number of solid new prospects and actual clients from brief phone calls to targeted prospects. One of those prospects wouldn't have turned into a client if I hadn't picked up the phone (she rarely checks e-mail), and another two prospects had been receiving my e-mail newsletter for over a year before I finally called them, and had never made contact with me directly.

So, while I do use e-mail to accent my networking, I find that picking up the phone works best. It gives you a way to bond with the prospect and share your personality in a way that e-mail really can't.

[Diane K. Danielson]

@Dani - I agree, phone calls help, esp. if you want the attention of someone who is NOT an emailer. If you get to the end of the press release, I do put a plug in there re: face-to-face networking and how it's important to do both on and offline networking. This is something I like to call "clicks & mix" networking. Click on line and mix it up in person.

Diane

[Susan Hammond]

I find it pays to ask someone what their preferred method of contact is. Then you don't spend time wondering if your email got lost or ended up in spam. I generally start with email as I usually send an article or other information and then follow-up with a call.