Grow With An Online Community

I love a good online community. 

One of my favorite online communities is a Facebook group called Subtle Asian Networking (SAN), a community that provides a safe space to ~casually network~ with each other. 

My friend who's really great at digging up resources on the internet introduced this group to me. She said it was this amazing community to "see what other people are doing and maybe receive mentorship" along the way.

I remember ignoring the invitation for the longest time. Why, you ask?

(real footage of me at career fairs)

Because I felt awkward and scared! I was unmotivated. I kept thinking, you know, I'm in grad school, I at least won't have to worry about job hunting for a little bit. 

Plus, "casually network"❓❗Hello? How is that even a concept?

This image precisely captures how I've pictured networking. You're in a suit, a skirt, something uncomfortable. You are scared, but you can't act scared. Put on a smile, at least that will make you look confident. It'd be great if you can pitch yourself! But hey, you can always just step aside if you're not ready. People might give you looks but, oh well, that's that.

Boredom during lockdown finally gave me that extra push I needed to join this "professional community", and looking back at it now, I am so glad I did.

Social Networks and Getting a Job: Mark Granovetterreal

These online communities we are in, as Mark Granovettereal puts it, are usually outside of our day-to-day life and can thus be considered weak ties. He argues that these weak ties are the ones who give us different perspectives and can be seen as our windows to the world.

Granovetterreal goes as far as stating that social networks are particularly important in channeling the best jobs the economy has to offer.

Hmmm, okay, let's see. What have I done since joining SAN?

While I haven't found a job through the platform, I was able to:

• 👣 Overcome my shyness and (finally) start to reach out to others
• 📎 Form a few "weak ties" with people who work at companies that I am interested in
• ⛳ Find 2 case partners who I practice case interviews with every week

Of course, I didn't travel directly from "I hate networking it's so awkward" to "let me casually reach out to people and schedule a chat." We all know it doesn't work like that. 

But, being in a community did help me make that transition quickly. 

You see everyone's energy. You feel their excitement. I wanted to be a part of that.

This is huge for me, as I've never found myself "ready" (or motivated enough, to be honest,) to talk careers. Being a part of a learning community isn't just about the knowledge transformation that occurs. For me, it was more psychological, encouraging me to be a little more positive and composed around career-related topics, which, I alone would have never been able to, or it would've taken forever. 

And that's why I am excited about building an online community. It's for information sharing, yes, but it's more about cheering each other and growing together. 

Reflecting upon my own experiences with group work, very few times have I felt "wow, this is a dream team." 

And that shouldn't be the reason why people can't do what they have dreamt of. Just because the dream team isn't next to you physically doesn't mean that that it's not there!

I am interested in building an online community that helps college students find co-founders or partners to work on exciting projects. Great ideas don't often come to fruition. I want to create a platform where we match student entrepreneurs with complementary skill sets and interests to bring their projects to life. 

Because the social aspect is extremely important, I want to base this platform on social media, whether that be Facebook or Linkedin. It would start out with words of mouth, and I am imagining that users will sign up with a form, answering questions about their interests, skillsets, hobbies, characteristics, and purpose for signing up. Admins, then, would pair them in the backend. 

After pairing, users will pick a time to meet and get to know each other more. This could be a chance for students to pursue side projects and discuss start-ups ideas, of course. But even if that doesn't happen, it could be fun to have an interesting conversation and form some weak ties. 

This could even shift offline in the long term. I am imagining meet-ups, presentations on successful projects, and workshops on growing communities.

It's fun to grow with someone. Let's all do this together.